Monthly Archives: May 2022

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Review

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This is definitely what I would consider to be a very weird film. Nothing is as it seems to the point where by the end you could call it pointless. Not sure I’ve ever described a film in that way before but that was my first thought. Nothing in the film ultimately mattered and it was vague enough where you could have tons of theories on what really happened. I was laughing a bit by the end at how absurd it all was. So I liked it and while it’s not the kind of film you could probably check out a second time, it was good in just how absurd it all was.

The film starts off with a bunch of rich drug dealers heading over to Alice’s place for dinner. They had been looking forward to this after her invite but unfortunately she claims the invite was not until tomorrow. They try going somewhere for dinner instead but the place had someone just die which spoiled their appetite. As the film goes on things begin to get crazier as a terrorist group is after one of the old men, the cops are on the trail of the drugs, one of them is cheating on the others, etc. Will these guys be able to come out on top?

The movie is always moving which is a good testament to the pacing I suppose. Things tend to happen quickly like the main trio looking at their cocaine stash to casually entering the diner. None of these guys are meant to be heroic or relatable in the slightest. They’re all rich folk who put up a nice front but don’t seem to actually have respect for each other. From Alice and Henri deciding to mess around instead of meeting the dinner date to Simone and Rafael having their affair, everyone is only interested in their own business.

All in all, they definitely can’t trust each other but they do have a vested interest in keeping the cops off their back. We then start to get a lot of dreams where nothing appears to be real. This may have all been figments of their imagination. There is a scene of the main characters walking through an abandoned highway that keeps on going back into focus and is even how the film ends. So you can make the case that perhaps these guys aren’t rich and these are all delusions they’re having while trying to find a car to hitchhike with. That would make a lot of sense and that’s what I’m banking on here.

The delusions can be fun though like when Rafael shoots this one guy who kept insulting his kingdom. He definitely wasn’t going to stand for that and he certainly felt brave in the moment. In another dream the characters wake up on a play set where their whole meal has been part of the act. That was definitely another really wild moment but they took it in stride. You have ghosts going around and murdering people and even two different sob stories for one random army grunt.

The movie never slows down in how crazy it all is and that’s where the movie wins some points. It may be pointless in a sense because there’s no rhyme or reason to this but at least its entertaining. As it becomes a bit of an anthology, some of the segments are certainly more entertaining than others. For example the girl with the toy animals who kept trying to assassinate Rafael was one of the weaker plots to me. I think they could have cut her out or at least made Rafael a little less sinister the whole time.

It’s easy to forget that the main characters are basically all villains here since they’re so nonchalant about it. I assume they got greedy because they already have a lot of money so why take things any further? You could also say that they got rich because of the drugs though in which case that would explain why they are in this business. It’ll always catch up in the end assuming even the beginning was real though and I have my doubts. The whole film was fake if you ask me, just delusions on top of delusions while the heat of the highway gets to them.

If you enjoy some crazy comedy then you should have a good time with it. In a sense you may enjoy the movie more if you have no idea about the plot or anything since it can catch you off guard but nowadays that’s difficult. You will likely hear about it in some way or another even perhaps as you tape the film since it will have the summary available at the ready. If it’s vague enough then you may still be able to appreciate some of the twists though.

As for the characters constantly trying to enjoy a nice dinner, I must say that French cuisine is not my favorite so most of the dishes did not look that good anyway. I like the pastries and all but the main dishes they would reference just did not sound appealing. When it comes to food, American, Italian, Chinese, and Spanish are the top tiers for me. You just can’t beat those and I love so many things on each menu. Japanese, Cuban, and Mexican would follow closely behind where I like their foods but it can be a bit more of a gamble depending on the place. Finally you have Thai and French near the bottom for me although I would say French is still in last for now. In the end just give me a McDonalds Cheeseburger or a Domino’s pizza and I’m satisfied.

Overall, how much you enjoy this film will all come down to how much you enjoy the film messing with you the whole time. You have to like this kind of surreal humor a lot to actually find the movie enjoyable or you may end up feeling like you just wasted a lot of time instead. For what it’s worth, I thought the movie delivered on the humor the whole time so I did find myself laughing at times. Not all of the segments will be so solid but more of them hit than the ones that miss and the characters do a good job of reacting to how crazy things are. It’s not the kind of film you can come out with too often but I’d say it works here.

Overall 6/10

First Man Review

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First Man is a film based on Neil Armstrong and that was a pretty big event so I suppose it’s about time we got the really big budget film adaption. It’s a solid movie although they make Neil Armstrong look incredibly unlikable here. I have to assume he was like this in real life or there would have been a ton of buzz from family and friends about how they did him a disservice. Either way the film makes it very hard to root for him at any point in the movie.

The movie starts with Neil crashing yet again so his superiors think that he just isn’t in a good headspace to be a pilot for a while. He’s temporarily grounded and unfortunately his daughter ends up dying so now he’s quite depressed. He ends up taking a job with NASA for project Gemini where they will be using some cutting edge tech to try and get to the Moon. It’ll be a difficult journey though with a lot of setbacks and deaths to get in the way. Can Neil pull through?

Of course since you know the events you know how the film has to end. It’s pretty straight forward in that respect but it’s fair to say that you won’t know all of the events here unless you really studied his life in the past. The effects are definitely really solid so you should appreciate seeing the space view from the ship and even the inner workings of the machine. At times it can try being a little too life like so the screen goes totally dark or totally light which makes it hard to see but otherwise it all tends to look very fancy.

During the film we also see how a lot of people are skeptical about Nasa’s mission and think they shouldn’t be wasting money to go on these space trips. How will going to the Moon enhance life on Earth? Well, Neil’s answer is that in space you can see the bigger picture and it’s something people should see. I thought this was a bit on the weak side. Personally while this may be a hot take, I do think exploring space is a waste of time at the moment. It is extremely expensive as the film shows and all that money could absolutely be spent on better things. Building more and more space ships like this just isn’t helping out much. It’s not like in a sci-fi film where we find some super metals in space that can help us out here. None of that tends to happen.

Sure, we learn about planets and space, but it’s hard to say how much of a tangible effect that has on quality of life. I would certainly say it has less effect than if you put that into some good Earth projects straight up. You don’t see many people talking about space nowadays so it’s hard to say what the general sentiments there are, but I still hold the same position. I know we’re getting close to trips to Mars and other places but it all just seems like a waste of time. Now if private companies want to do it, no problem. When it comes from the government’s funds though then that’s a different issue.

As an aside, there was a whole lot of discussion when the film was coming out about the U.S. flag scene not appearing here. I’m not sure how much I would have noticed it otherwise though. While it was an iconic moment in all Neil Armstrong stories, the ending all goes by rather quickly. Knowing this in advance though, I do think it should have been included. That’s just a staple of the event and even titles like Justice League and many other popular culture moments always make sure to keep that in. It’s impressive to see the flag up there on the Moon and a good proof that the U.S. made it first after Russia had the edge for most of the film.

So the drama is solid and the film has good writing. There’s always a lot happening here with other pilots being knocked down in droves. It shows how much sacrifice went into this and how Neil grew tired of the funerals. He had a difficult time adjusting to loss and it gradually made him drift more and more from his family. The movie never portrays him in a sympathetic light there which is good but it also made it difficult to have him as a main character. I just didn’t like the guy at all and nearly all of his scenes make him feel like a bad character.

He could have done the bare minimum to make his family happy and didn’t even do that. His wife Janet did the best that she could in the meantime. It was still a pretty tough journey for her though since she would have to make excuses for him and raise the kids on her own. By the end she does put her foot down and force him to talk to the kids which wasn’t easy. Neil’s friends also do their best to try and talk to him but it never really works.

Overall, First Man is a good adaption of the events. All in all, I probably could have done without a lot of the human drama though. Cut that stuff out and just focus on the actual flying and building of the ships. If this made the film too short then I feel like you could extend that by showing more scenes of Congress debating if this was actually worth pursuing after the first ship blew up and burned those 3 people alive. You could certainly have quite a few scenes about that and it would easily help pad out the runtime by the end while still feeling natural. I’d certainly be very interested to see how that goes at least. Either way, if you want a film about Neil Armstrong’s life, you’ll be hard pressed to find one more detailed than this film.

Overcomer

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It’s time for a film about overcoming the hurdles and problems in your life so the title is certainly very appropriate. It’s definitely a solid movie and probably one of the only track and field titles I’ve gotten to check out. It’s definitely a tough sport as you’re really all alone and can only go as far as your body can take you. In that ways it has to be one of the sports with the fewest variables. You’re either fast enough to pull this off or you aren’t.

The movie starts with John getting excited because his Basketball team should be ready to go all the way next year. Unfortunately that dream is quickly taken away as the school isn’t doing very well with funding and jobs are drying up so everyone ends up leaving the school. John doesn’t really have a Basketball program anymore and so Principal Olivia tells him to coach up Track and Field now. There’s only one person who tried out for the team though, Hannah. John isn’t thrilled about this because 1 person does not make a team…except he’s then reminded that you only need 1 person for Track. Hannah has asthma though which is a significant hurdle to winning and John just isn’t very motivated right now. Can they both overcome these issues to win this thing?

So at first John may not be the most supportive but I’d say the film writes him well. He’s not being completely unreasonable or rude or anything like that. He just really was crushed because he’s taught Basketball all his life and finally had a chance at winning. It’s easy to see why he would be a little dismayed right now. I would also say he turns to taking Track pretty seriously before too long so it’s also not like he was out of it for half the film. By the time he met with Thomas at the hospital I’d say John had started to settle into his role as coach.

Learning tips from an ex-runner was a really good way for him to help coach up Hannah too. Thomas also helped John reawaken his Christianity. While John had never left per say, Thomas showed him that this wasn’t quite as high up in his priorities as it should have been. It took John a while to say that he was a Christian for example. From there on John started praying more and things got better there. He even tried running with the team a bit although that’s one trial he probably doesn’t need to subject himself to more than once.

John’s wife Amy is always very supportive as well. She does her best to encourage him with the Track and Field program and also tries to cheer up Hannah. It’s always good to have someone in your corner and just her presence certainly made things easier on John. Principal Olivia was also a solid character. Now she couldn’t help as directly most of the time because of her position but she would at least try to sow some seeds to help things work out. She talked with Hannah, warned the leads that Hannah’s grandmother Barbara might try to stop them, etc.

As for Barbara, she’s the main antagonist here but definitely another reasonable one. She had to live first-hand with how Thomas wrecked their lives. He had a rough history involving drugs and so it’s not super easy to forgive that. Even though he says that he’s better now and is in a condition where he can’t do any more damage, it’s just hard to forgive and forget. So she really tried to keep Hannah away from him to the point where she told the girl that her father was dead. That way they would likely never meet and if not for the coincidence of John meeting Thomas in the hospital it wouldn’t have even happened. Barbara planned well in that respect.

Then you have Thomas who is in a serious condition at the hospital. He’s lost his eyesight and doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of time left to live. He’s introduced as a very nice but lonely guy from the start. He doesn’t have any visitors at the hospital. Mix that in with the fact that he can no longer see and it’s really been a tough experience for him. It’s hard to even imagine having to live like that for a long period of time. Nobody to talk to and nothing to see? Yeah the film did not hold back at all with his trials here. Fortunately he was able to find God and became a Christian so while his life has been a really rough one, he’ll get to finally experience the joy he missed in Heaven.

He also got to meet up with Hannah before dying so he had some good memories to end life with. These times were brief but at least it happened. It would have been a little too tragic if he had parted before that could happen. As for Hannah, she naturally has a tough time with this as well. It’s difficult to live your whole life thinking your father’s dead only to find out he’s been around the whole time. The hospital even seems to be fairly close. Ultimately she does decide to talk rather than bottling it all in and this helps her be a better person. During the film there was a bit of a subplot where she’s a thief and this helps her break away from that.

Once Hannah becomes a Christian she stops stealing things altogether. The plot didn’t really add anything to the film so I sort of feel like it could have been cut out though. I think the whole plot was only here so we could have some objective way to see how she was acting better now. The concept behind that is good but it was just treated like such a minor thing throughout the film that I feel like it could have been removed. Ultimately all of the characters are in a better place by the end of the film than when they started.

Overall, Overcomer is a pretty solid film. The ending might make you a bit sad for one of the runners just with how things turned out though. It’s always best to win or lose right at the results screen but when your really think you’ve won, only to have it taken back a few minutes later definitely stings. I would have just made the winner immediate to avoid that. If you’re looking for a solid film of inspiration then this is a good one to pick up. It’s certainly got its sad moments but on the whole it’s a light hearted film that should fill you with good vibes.

The Mummy’s Curse review

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The Mummy adventures continue in this one. I wouldn’t say its as strong as the second installment but is very close with the third. I was impressed at the heroine showing up again from the last film as I just had the feeling that she wasn’t going to be brought up. Instead the film actually finishes up her plotline. It may not be in a very satisfying way but at least its acknowledged.

So there are a bunch of engineers working on a swamp but they’re all very scared of the whole Mummy rumors. Legends say that a Mummy is still buried under here somewhere and it doesn’t help that a bunch of guys from the nearby museum show up to try and find the Mummy as well. The boss is outraged at the whole thing but his secretary has fallen in love and won’t support him in throwing these men out. Perhaps that will be for the best though as the Mummy is very real and has started his rampage once more. Can the heroes take him down before it’s too late?

I said some of the earlier main characters were bland but this one may take the cake. The main character James has no real character to speak of. He wants to get to the Mummy for the museum but it’s hard to say much more about him than that. He seems like a nice enough person but certainly gets crushed rather easily when it comes time for a fight. He just didn’t fair too well in the climax and got off easy with Kharis really doing all of the work here.

As for Ananka, well she looks pretty bad here. Whenever someone is in trouble she runs off so that they will be doomed against Kharis. You can actively blame her for most of the deaths in this film. I mean Kharis should take the direct blame but she is really not being a good character in leaving them to their deaths. It was not a wise move. The new villain Ilzor is just like the others who follow Kharis. At first he is commanding the Mummy but then gets greedy in going after the heroine so Kharis does not like that. The villain made a big mistake in running to the prison though. That’s just not a good idea here. Why lock yourself in against a monster like this?

If you try to run you at least have a shot since the Mummy is so slow. Just don’t faint, if you do that then you’re really in for a bad time. The Mummy itself doesn’t do a whole lot here. It still flails around and chokes people but that’s about it. You’ve seen it all before and it’s why I say that he desperately needs a power up. Something that will really help him turn the tables and be more of a threat.

Beyond that, the movie really plays out how you would expect it too. Kharis takes out a bunch of fighters here and there until they eventually catch up to him. The whole place caving in and burying him is quite the way to go. It may not be the most exciting climax but it does the job. You’ll be entertained from start to finish and a good reason for that is really the solid writing. I dare say that if the writing was not up to par then this movie would not work.

It’s one of those titles that only works because it’s so old and the writing was so solid back then. If you remade this in the modern day it would absolutely need to compensate with a lot more action to keep things interesting. This one can afford to be more of a slow boil film with not much happening because those fundamentals are on point. The movie is short and never drags on either so I would even say that it has a decent amount of replay value. If you just want to turn your brain off and watch something entertaining then this is a good film to pick up. That said, you could certainly do better so you may not give it the re watch.

I still say the main thing to take these films to the next level would be to make the Mummy itself a little fiercer. Alternately what you can do is give him an enemy to fight. Throw in another Mummy, wouldn’t that be a nice wrinkle? Kharis wakes up but another Mummy like Imhotep says this is his domain so they have to duke it out. That would be excellent and I’m always surprised that we don’t get more fighting among the monsters. It would make for a very compelling story and as long as they don’t cop out on who the winner is, it would also be a good way to get both fanbases engaged and eager to watch the solo follow ups to track the power-ups. I have to imagine there were still a lot of vs debaters back in the day.

Overall, The Mummy’s Curse is a good film. There’s nothing all that unique about it though. Aside from the setting being different it plays out in almost the same way as the last film. I did like the engineering boss though. At least that guy didn’t buy into the whole Mummy thing from start to finish as he kept making jokes and insulting everyone. You feel bad for him because he definitely lost a lot of time on this whole adventure. Hopefully he can make it all up now that people shouldn’t be worried about the Mummy anymore. He’ll need a new secretary but as he pointed out in the ending, she hadn’t been helping him much throughout the entire film anyway so it wouldn’t change much.

Overall 6/10

The Mummy’s Ghost Review

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Right off the bat I know what question you’re going to have here. Is the Mummy a little more powerful this time than last time? Well, unfortunately the answer to that is no. It’s still only got the speed of an old man with a cane and only has 1 arm with which to attack people. That’s a shame but for the most part the movie plays out the same as the last one. It’s not quite as good in just about every respect though so while it’s a good movie on its own, it doesn’t end up actually living up to the previous one. I’m afraid it’s just a step down this time.

The movie starts with the old guy from last time explaining to the next successor in line that he needs to awaken Kharis once again and also find his bride among the people. Yousef believes the delusions and decides to act as he gets the Mummy to start bumping people off. The town is hesitant to believe in a Mummy showing up, particularly the inspector. Will they be able to ready themselves and launch a counter attack soon or is it already too late for them?

The main guy here is Tom and the main heroine is his girlfriend Amina. A nice little part to their subplot is that they’re planning a trip to New York to get out of this crazy town once the Mummy topic shows up. Amina is Egyptian after all so people are starting to take notice of that. Unfortunately the Mummy attacks right before they left but I like to think that they would have escaped his range. I’d like to see the Mummy try to get into New York. It’s just so far after all and would be risky for Yousef to transport him in the sarcophagus or something like that.

As always the human villain gets a bit greedy here though. Things were going just find for Yousef but then of course he fell in love with Amina so instead of delivering her as Kharis’ bride, he wanted her for himself. Not a very smart move on his part. Naturally this leads to his inevitable end and he made a lot of very poor decisions the entire movie. You can’t let your feelings get in the way of things, that’s never a good idea.

As for Kharis, he’s as slow as ever. I guess it seems like the Mummy wants romance more than anything here. I suppose to an extent that was always part of his character but here that is his only character and it’s not a very compelling one. So he’s not a scary or likable villain at this point which hurts him on both accounts. If anything you feel like his ending was a little too happy.

Then you have the main two characters who were decent. I think Amina is a little too easily mind controlled though. I always tend to feel like the person being mind controlled just needs to focus a bit more and they should be able to overcome this feeling. Instead it happens in an instant whenever Yousef appears. You’d think it would just be with Kharis though, why for his sidekick? As for Tom, he makes sure to stick up for Amina each time which is good. He doesn’t let anyone mess with her and he’s even got a nice little dog who is always helpful and wants to do his best to protect them.

In general you do get the feeling that this is a very nice town with kind people who just want to help. The movie has a nice atmosphere and the writing is strong. On its surface it may just be your average creature feature film but that’s part of what makes it work. It’s a very simple title that has strong fundamentals. I wouldn’t say it has any glaring flaws. The weaknesses are more about what the film does not do like it could have been longer or given Kharis a bit more to do aside from just hobbling around a bit.

Making Kharis more formidable would really be a good idea for the film. Also he needs to stop effectively working as the villain’s lackey and be his own master. It’s always odd to see the Mummy playing the sidekick role rather than being the big cheese. It just doesn’t make sense to me is all.

As a final note, I also wasn’t crazy about the ending. I thought it was a little mean spirited towards one of the characters. She definitely didn’t ask for this and it just didn’t get the level of sadness from the cast that you would expect. The film just kind of ends on what I’d consider a really sad scene but it just seems subdued in the film. Certainly an ambitious ending, I’ll give the film that even if I didn’t like it all that much.

Overall, The Mummy’s Ghost is a solid sequel. It could have been better but at the end of the day I guess I’ll just be satisfied with it being a good film. One thing that is always impressive is how the films keep building off each other. The time skips may ensure it’s usually a different cast but the Mummy always being the same is pretty intense. If they had kept going with the film it could have even gotten a little sci-fi by the end. Now that would have been hype. There is one more Mummy film to go though so I’ll have the review for that one up shortly as well.

Overall 6/10

Earthworm Jim 2 Review

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This is one of those games where I can’t say that I knew a whole lot about it but I definitely knew the name. Earthworm Jim is one of those names that just sticks around in your mind from start to finish. You can’t forget it because it’s just way too intense. The game lives up to the hype and is definitely a blast even if the ending starts to get a little on the crazy side. Certainly a very difficult game as well.

The game starts off with Jim on another adventure to save the princess or at least I think she’s a princess. Along the way he has to fight with a lot of different creatures. Get ready for some big plot twists by the end too. This is not a game that spells everything out for you. At times you will really have to connect the dots on your own and also decide how real the ending is. Personally I like to think the whole ending is completely real and just how it appears to be. It’s an ambitious way to end the game and I can definitely approve of that.

As for the gameplay, it’s Fairley standard for a shooter. You blast away at your enemies and keep on moving. Your ammo may not always be great but you slowly recover some if you’re ever totally out. I recommend not wasting your ammo though as it is extremely useful for every part of the game. You don’t want to be running low against a boss or you’re really in trouble. You have different kinds of guns around here too so try and learn how each one looks and feels. The best one is the machine gun style but all of the guns are useful for something or another. Mainly you also just can’t to be good at jumping and dodging so you don’t just eat every attack. Do that and then you’ll really be in a jam.

One level that gave me a lot of trouble is the final level so here’s something to keep in mind about that. You have to stay ahead of your opponent at all times here or you lose. If you make it to the end of the level but he was first then the level just ends with you being stuck until you run out of health. So you have to move really quickly here and it cost me a ton of tries to get that far. Trust me, it definitely was not easy at all especially because you’re never given any indication that the rules around this level were different than the rest. Seriously it just comes out of nowhere which makes the whole thing a bit surprising.

Aside from the gameplay, the soundtrack and graphics are all solid. This is what I would call the complete package because it looks and sounds good while also being a very satisfying play. It’s hard to go wrong here. It’s aged incredibly well for the SNES, you could probably get away with thinking this could even look like an N64 title. Throw in the fact that it had more of a real story than the others and it really seemed to be ahead of its time.

I’m a little surprised there weren’t more 2D platformer shooters back in the day. I suppose Mega Man cornered the market there but they always tend to be a lot of fun and satisfying. This one just proves that even more. It’s probably the last Switch Online game for a bit but I was definitely thrilled to get a chance to play this one. Hopefully the console keeps on updating with more and more solid games. Who knows what other gems are hiding out there just waiting to be played!

Overall, Earthworm Jim 2 is definitely a solid game. I had a lot of fun with it at least and the title really embraced how crazy the whole thing was. It was definitely not trying to be your average shooter game. I’d really be down with a remake of this game at some point. There’s a whole lot you can do here for the future. Some of the gameplay mechanics should be explained better so you aren’t walking around in circles or anything like that but those are easy fixes to make. (Finding out how to open up the flowers to throw around took me forever!) Pull that off and you’re in a good spot!

Overall 7/10

The Mummy’s Tomb Review

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It’s certainly been a while since I saw the last Mummy film. It wasn’t exactly one of the most interesting universal movies but it’s always nice for any movie to get a direct sequel like this. Showing the incredibly long recap was a bit much though. I’m not even opposed to showing old footage as a recap since it’ll have been a while since people saw the original but only if it doesn’t affect the actual runtime. In this case the movie is only 60 minutes and that includes the recap which is too bad. You’ll be done with this film as soon as it has begun and it’s a shame because it’s actually reasonably good. With a longer length this could have been the definitive Mummy film which may not be saying a ton but it’s a start. Right now the trilogy involving the Scorpion King would take that title.

So the movie starts by recapping the last film with Steve explaining to everyone how it went down. It’s a bit hard for people to believe though so Steve’s audience treats it more like a story than anything else. Meanwhile Andoheb gets Bey ready to take over as Kharis’ master. Bey decides to destroy everyone related to Banning and his expedition so he sends out the Mummy, Kharis to destroy everyone. One by one he starts to bump off people in the town so they are forced to acknowledge the grim reality that this Mummy may be real. Is it all too late though?

When the mummy first appeared, humanity received a grim reminder that there were forces beyond their comprehension at work here. This movie doesn’t really go into the horror elements much though. I would argue that even as Kharis is murdering people it never actually goes for a very scary vibe here. Perhaps it’s the way he murders them. See, his arm is rather busted by this point so all he can do is move with one arm to choke people. Mix this in with the fact that he can barely move at all and it’s a rather unimpressive way to die.

It’s hardly out of the norm for this to be the case in these old movies but even more than usual it’s just hard to buy into this all happening. At most you could say the old lady isn’t strong enough to resist. For the rest there is no excuse though. When someone has super strength that doesn’t mean you should just instantly be taken down for the count. You still have to be able to resist, use some judo, or just run. The mummy is slower than a normal person walking at a brisk pace. He’s also rather loud so you can always tell that he is on the way. Makes your job of surviving that much easier.

So in a lot of ways the movie ends up being rather funny but that works for me. I always manage to have a good chuckle when this is going on. The deaths are never all that violent or anything, they just happen and things move on as normal. The characters are very reluctant to actually believe in what’s happening though. At one point John has witnessed almost every member of the original team get murdered and he still persists in believing in science. Sure, you don’t have to believe in the Mummy but shouldn’t you at least be taking the threat seriously?

It felt like there was a bit of a disconnect with how nobody was really taking the string of murders as seriously as they should. This is really a big deal if you think about it especially for a small town. I know the sheriff/police captain said he was on it but it wasn’t until the very end that the town really got involved. In the meantime they were just picked off like it was nothing.

In particular Steve goes out in a very sad way. I’m using sad more in the sense that he looked bad though because I can’t say that I got very emotional here. So Steve goes into a bar to get drunk because he has no situational awareness and then after that he ends up running into an alley somehow. How did this happen? We saw how he got to the bar and how he left, there was no alley anywhere in sight so it just didn’t make any sense. He struggles a bit but should have been able to have escaped. The geography just didn’t make sense.

I wouldn’t be shocked if that was a plot hole but I can’t say I was quite invested enough to do a really deep dive here. Isobel made for a solid heroine and in the end she gets a happy ending with John. It would have been nice if there was more time to really develop their characters but again the film was just too short for that. All you really know about John and Isobel is that they’re good people. Seriously it’s hard to really talk more about their personalities beyond that. They do the right things and always keep moving to their goals but that’s it. They have a quick wedding and all at the end but it’s really just an after thought.

The reason this film is good is really because the writing is solid and also because the characters are just fun. It’s a movie that goes by quickly and not just because it’s only an hour long. I think the Mummy should get a power boost for a sequel though. Even if it removes some of the more campier elements of the title, I think it’s worth it because the Mummy should be able to do more than just choke people with one hand. I also think the cult members could be more interesting. It feels like the same guy in every film even if the mantle is always turned to someone else.

Overall, The Mummy’s Tomb beats the original and works out pretty well as a thriller title. Just go into it with a bit of a grin on your face and you’ll have a blast. If you’re expecting to take this film seriously then you will not have a good time. Seriously, this film just isn’t nearly as serious as it thinks it is. (Because I do think the film was trying to be serious) I’ll have a review for the next installments in the series pretty soon and we’ll see if they can match this one.

Overall 7/10

Dig Dug II Review

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Dig Dug II is a pretty fun game. I wouldn’t say it quite holds up to the first one but it’s hard to say how much of that is just pure levels of quality and how much is nostalgia. If I were put to the ultimate test though I would still say the first just wins on merit. The underground levels worked perfectly for the series and same with how the gameplay was set up. There’s a reason why it became an all time classic after all. The sequel is still good though and it was certainly good enough where I kept going until I beat all 75 levels.

There isn’t really a story here though so just go in and start blasting all of the enemies. Your objectives will be clear from there. Now there is a tip I found out while going through the levels that will help you out. So you know from that start that you just press A to start plugging the enemies full of air so they pop right? Well, you may feel like pressing A as fast as you can is the way to go but that’s not quite right. It’s actually more effective to be pressing A while moving forward. For some reason that speeds everything up really quickly so you can potentially take out several enemies before they get to you.

The reason why this is huge is because in the latter levels you need every second. You have numerous enemies rushing at you and a single touch will mean that you lose a life. So every enemy you can knock out is one less that you will have to worry about later on. To clear a level you have to beat all enemies so it stands to reason that destroying them all as fast as you can is the way to go right? Beyond that you can also use your drill to make little barriers that the enemies will have to navigate around or try to dig under. Both options still buy you some more time as well.

Just play as fast and hard as possible. Your instincts will quickly catch up and then from there you will know what to do without an issue. The game is very intuitive after all. While I didn’t think the levels or gameplay style beat the original, it’s still a fairly high quality game here. There was a lot of dedication put into the title so you know from the start that this one’s a keeper. It is easy to just plug in and play plus it has a lot of replay value in trying to beat your high score. It may be a little more slow paced than some other arcade games so it can take a while to get to your turn if you’re sharing at an arcade but if you’re just trying to beat yourself then it’s perfect.

As for the graphics, they hold up pretty well. The game is nice and colorful with good minion sprites as well. You always know what is happening nd I wouldn’t say anything is blurry. It’s just a solid experience. The soundtrack is less memorable though. While you’re playing you probably won’t notice a thing because you’re just concentrating so hard. Not necessarily a bad thing though, just means that you’re really invested into the game the whole time.

If there’s something I would have liked to have seen in this game, it would be boss fights. I think a solid boss fight would have been really fun and if you spread them out to once every 10 levels or something, it would be a nice way for you to feel like you’re really making progress. I’m not exactly sure how you’d program the boss fights but feel like there is a lot of potential with how the gameplay is. That may have been the thing to help this one beat the original.

Overall, Dig Dug II is a fun game. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it because of how straight forward the game is. You either get it or you don’t but it’s not like there is a lot to learn or describe. It’s really just the same move that you used over and over again to get to the end of the level or to block off the enemies. Once you’ve learned the ropes then it all comes down to your reaction times and planning. I want to say you’ll get pretty far even without using the access points but defeating all 75 levels without restarting or rewinding once would be extremely difficult. Definitely not a challenge for the faint of heart.

Overall 6/10