Monthly Archives: December 2022

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 12s

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We lose another 4 volumes with episode 12 so this list is about to get a whole lot smaller going forward. We’re getting a lot of final episodes here. It’s fun to see how active Cinder is in just about every volume. She has really withstood the test of time and it’s fortunate that I’m a big fan. I can see how one could get tired of her with how she’s always around but she has a lot of style so it ends up being okay. Now lets dive into the rankings!

8. Ice Queendom

Ice Queendom has been a fun ride and I’ll definitely have a full review up for it soon. In the meantime this works really well as an epilogue episode. A chance to just see the characters interacting and now that they have all had a lot of character development, they’re the best friends you remember. The series really nailed the characters for Blake and Weiss in particular and why they are so great. Both are usually considered to have the most development from the main group and it’s nice to see how they’ve changed. Even the little things like Weiss waiting for Blake afterwards so they could have one last talk and reaffirm how they will change the world was great.

There’s also a nice adaption of the food fight here. It may not have as much fighting as the original version but it’s really meant to show the characters all having fun as opposed to being more of a serious battle between teams. I definitely hope we get a season 2 announced soon. It’s such a perfect accompaniment to the main series, especially with the main volumes taking so long to come out. Ultimately as an epilogue episode it makes sense that this wouldn’t past the other episodes but it was still a very strong showing.

7. Volume 4

It’s time for the end of Volume 4. We get a massive fight against a large Grimm here which ends up being one of the longest fights against any Grimm creature. It’s nice to see Ruby fighting with team Jaune one last time here. There are a lot of good combinations used and the fight is on point. I have a little trouble believing that they had this much trouble with the creature though. It was a nice way to have one last confrontation before going up against the cabal members more frequently in volumes 5 and beyond. Volume 4 as a whole may have been a lot more mixed compared to the other volumes but it had the tough job of having to get a lot of the exposition out of the way and did a good job with it. It set the stage for all of the characters to lead into Volume 5 and that’s why the wait for the next volume was so tough. It may not have ended in a high spot but that’s because the competition is other RWBY episodes. Put this up against a different series and it would be in a really good spot.

6. Volume 2

Volume 2 goes in next with the final episode and we get a big invasion by the Grimm. It’s a nice showcase for virtually every character in the series to show up and land some combination moves. Even Emerald and Mercury fight a bit in order to keep up their cover. It lacks the tension that the Volume 3 invasion had because there isn’t a whole lot of fear that the Grimm can put into the heroes at this point. They’re all getting shredded but the fights have great choreography as always. It also has the best ending scene from all the volumes as Adam steps in and finally announces his involvement. You figured that he was around somewhere but seeing him like that just made the ending feel all the more real. You knew things were going to escalate and the tournament was mentioned so you had that to look forward to. This really marked the end of the happy days for the team as things would start to get serious very quickly and so it made for a very fun finale. The fact that it is ranked so low just shows how powerful the other episodes coming up are.

5. Volume 8

In this episode we have the heroes finally rise up to take down Ironwood! While the second half is mainly about planning how to save everyone in Atlas and Mantle, the first half is the really powerful moment because Ironwood has been around for a very long time. It’s also impressive that he took on a large chunk of the cast all by himself. It’s always hard not to root for a character getting outnumbered to fight back a bit. Perhaps you’re not rooting for him to win but with odds like that you’re hoping he can put up a resistance and he does. The fact that Ironwood was pushing most of the characters back was really impressive.

By this point in the story he was a complete villain but since you did see him as a hero and just how determined he used to be, you’re glad that this part of him is still there. He is still Ironwood through and through, he’s just unfortunately gone over to the other side. Winter had to make a hard call in changing sides but ultimately she did the right thing and we got to see this with Emerald as well. It may be one of the less action packed episodes in this list but it was still a really solid one either way.

4. Volume 5

Here we continue with the big climax at Haven but unfortunately the chinks in the armor all appear at once. We have a ton of highly skilled fighters going up against each other but the actual animation isn’t up to par. Characters barely move and the power levels make no sense. How does Lionheart go from getting wrecked by Oscar to stalemating Qrow for a while? I have issues with Hazel stalemating Qrow as well the whole time. This would be the beginning of the end for Qrow’s hype. There are so many hype things going on and if the fights looked as good as the ones coming after it then this would certainly rank much higher. As it is it’s still a very intense episode with a great cliffhanger. It’s always a pleasure to see Raven on screen as she is one of the best characters in RWBY and her scenes always leave a very big impact. I would say she mishandled this situation to a large extent but this at least salvages that and of course you know the next episode will end up being a massive one. The budget was all saved for this moment after all!

3. Volume 3

Volume 3 has returned as we come to the end of my favorite volume. The fight with Pyrrha and Cinder was really spectacular. You know that the heroine is outmatched the whole time but she still tried her best to win and at the end of the day that’s all you can do. She didn’t back away from her challenges and went at Cinder head on. We get a lot of emotional bears here and the heroes are really just barely hanging on. When the dust settles some of them really were broken and have lost the will to fight while others press on. To this day it absolutely still ranks as one of the most powerful RWBY episodes and showing off Salem at the end was really big. It was like the Thanos moment of the RWBY verse because Salem has been the big bad that the whole series had been leading up to until now. It’s not a moment that you would ever forget that’s for sure. This was really the end of the original RWBY era as Volume 4 would start what I consider to be the modern saga. No more school adventures, from here on out it would be about finding Salem and taking her down.

2. Volume 6

This is it, the big Adam fight! I’d been waiting for the rematch for so long and this episode doesn’t disappoint. The choreography is really good and the show did a great job of course correcting and making Adam a threat again. The dialogue between Yang, Blake, and Adam is also fantastic as you see just how emotional the fight is. I would still say that in the end Adam became too obsessive with Blake when she was not his primary focus though. I know losing in one punch during Volume 5 is something that’s hard to get over but at the same time you just have to keep on fighting and if he focused on the goals of the White Fang then he wouldn’t be in this predicament.

There is also the subplot with Team RWBY taking on the giant mech but of course it is overshadowed by the Adam battle. It was good to see Ruby showing her leadership and Weiss helping out with the combos the whole time though. Gone are the days when Ruby’s leadership skills were lacking. She’s really come into her own at this point and does a great job with the strategy. All in all Volume 6 really brought out its A game for the climax.

1. Volume 7

We have made it to the greatest episode in the RWBY franchise. Yes, this one is in 1st place and by a decent margin for me. It just managed to do everything right and I’ve seen this episode countless times. The fight with the Ace Ops is perfect. We haven’t seen a full team up fight against another group like this since Volume 3. The heroes got to show off their teamwork and unity against some of the most powerful fighters in the world. It was a really satisfying watch and the song was also amazing. There is just so much to love about this episode and the main fight was so good you almost forget that we also had the big Qrow vs Tyrian rematch.

The subplot is one area where I always disagreed with the fans though. Qrow got a tremendous amount of shots taken at him because people said he teamed up with Tyrian and betrayed Clover. I just don’t see it no matter how many times I watch the episode. Qrow tries to de-escalate 3 times and goes after Tyrian but every time Clover tries to stab him in the back. So yes by the end Qrow has to turn his attention over to Clover but that’s because he had no choice. It was Clover (And Robyn to an extent but I blame her far less since her gut instinct that Atlas would try to mess her over was proven correct in the end) who really messed up here. He should have trusted his friends and not been glued to the orders the whole time. That it what ended up costing him here.

That was a really powerful batch of episodes that’s for sure. The heroes really got put through the wringer here and we got some absolutely massive fights. It all just makes me even more excited for Volume 9 once it finally comes out. That will definitely be a great moment but at least in the meantime it’s great that we have 9 different seasons of content to watch. You can never have enough of RWBY after all. It’s the show that keeps getting better every time you watch it. Stay tuned for the next batch!

Oliver & Company Review

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It’s time for a fun animated movie that I don’t recall hearing about back in the day despite it seeming like a fairly big deal. The animation is on point and it seems to have a good budget at any rate. It’s a fun film and one that can be surprisingly intense with how things go for the villains. It has aged well and the movie has really good pacing. There isn’t much to find fault with for this title.

The movie starts with a cat named Oliver not being adopted so now he is lost and alone in New York City. It looks like things will be tricky but he quickly meets up with a dog who is very street savvy. This guy’s name is Dodger and he seems helpful at first but tricks Oliver into helping steal a hot dog and then runs off. Oliver corners him at the home base but Dodger has quite a lot of friends there. Fortunately they’re a little nicer and so Oliver is entered into their group. Basically they find lots of little gizmos and knick knacks for their owner Fagin. He is in a tough spot and owes money to a tough guy named Sykes. It’s a fun enough job for the pets but then Oliver ends up meeting a little girl named Jenny who is super rich. He can now have the time of his life but can he really leave these other animals who were so good to him? It’s a tough call.

This is one of those movies that feels like it’s always moving. Each new plot development doesn’t take much time to stop as it just keeps going. It’s a good thing and so while this may sort of be the basic plot, there’s always more going on but you don’t want to give away too much. At the end of the day it is a bit of a tough call but you could make the case that Oliver didn’t have many doubts. And he shouldn’t. He got into this situation because he wasn’t adopted so finding a nice owner is really perfect for him. Sure it’s rough for the other pets not being able to have an easy out like that but they shouldn’t begrudge Oliver his opportunity.

Things worked out perfectly for him and that’s a great thing. Hopefully the situation will continue to go like that and then maybe the others will have their shot. Dodger was the most petty about this. For the most part the other members of the crew were actually understanding on this but Dodger just got way too offended. I get that it was a shock but I would have liked him to have been a bit nicer about this right up front. It did hurt his character a bit with how hard he made things on Oliver.

Oliver was a good kid. He may be young and not know as much about city life but he still did his best at every opportunity which is what counts. His owner Jenny also did her best. She takes a big risk in heading outside to try and help Oliver when he’s held for ransom and she is a nice kid. In the end that’s why this is such a nice situation for Oliver.

As for Dodger’s friends, Tito is more on the annoying side. He’s one of those guys who talks really tough and is always picking fights but he can’t really fight. So it’s closer to just being full of hot air. Look I do like confidence in general but you have to be able to back it up. His flirty nature can also get out of hand a whole lot. Einstein is a decent dog but doesn’t do a whole lot in the story next to the others. Georgette is the spoiled dog who is Jenny’s first pet and doesn’t appreciate having another member of the family there.

You get it since that would be a big change and she has always lived a really pampered life. It would take a lot of adjusting and so she wasn’t really my favorite character but gets better as the movie goes on. Rita seems to be the wise member of the hero group who never really panics and tries to de-escalate things. She did a good job there and then you have Francis who is a bulldog so you know he can fight but unfortunately he is usually outmatched against Sykes’ two dogs.

Sykes is the main villain here and he has two rottweilers that are powerful enough to threaten the entire group. They’re definitely not to be messed with and make for very intimidating villains. At any point they could crush the heroes if given the order by their boss so the group always has to hope that this doesn’t happen. Occasionally the heroes will try to hurl some kind of insult but they usually regret it right after.

Then Sykes himself is a very impressive villain. He has complete control over the situation right from the start and is clearly not someone to be trifled with. He was really close to winning it all and he didn’t get to be the top mobster around by being nice. This guy earned a lot of respect from the underworld and rightfully so. He made for a very entertaining villain but perhaps because he was so mean the film didn’t mind really going in against him during the climax.

As I mentioned before the climax is really serious for this film. They definitely weren’t trying to scale things back for the kids. At the end of the day it’s a level that I think is fine for a kid’s movie, I was just surprised by it. The film is never too detailed or anything so it avoids my usual animal violence issues. Would I change a few things about the climax? Sure I definitely would but it’s still a fun film that I could easily recommend. It doesn’t even try to force a bunch of songs into the mix to destroy the pacing.

The animation for the film is also fairly sharp. It’s very expressive which I like to see and you can always tell what is happening. I appreciated the detail here and the movie really got a good budget backing it up. It’s very smooth and so I definitely have no issues with it. It really helps to enhance the movie which was already solid.

Overall, Oliver & Company is a good movie. It has some fun humor and quality characters but at the end of the day the main strength is that it’s a well written title. It doesn’t have any real issues that would end up hurting it down the stretch. It’s the kind of movie that you can watch at any time so whenever you have a good moment you should check it out and see what you think. Maybe eventually this one will be more popular and be widely known across all of the animated movie circles.

Overall 7/10

Crashing Through The Snow Review

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Time for another Hallmark Christmas film and in this one things get extra personal for all of the characters. It’s rare but this time the film unintentionally made the protagonist less sympathetic than you would expect though. I dare say this movie had more conflict than just about any of the others with things getting tricky from the start but it also helped it stand out from some of the others in how different it was.

The movie starts with Maggie saying goodbye to the kids because they are going to be staying with their father and new fiancé. Maggie is sad that this will be her first Christmas away with the kids and tactically lets this be known a few times so the fiancé (Kate) invites her over for Christmas as well. Now that Maggie is coming along she is determined to continue her traditions with the kids as normal and in the process forgets that she is a guest at this event. Will she end up destroying Kate’s carefully crafted Christmas plans?

So here’s the thing. Maggie was originally not even going to be with the kids for Christmas at all. Her ex husband Jeff and Kate were going to host a their first family Christmas and it’s only because Kate invited her that Maggie would be there at all. Jeff didn’t even want Maggie there from how his reaction went. So you’d expect Maggie to be low key, enjoy the time she has with the kids and enjoy the plans. The problem is that right from the start she tries to take over.

Bringing the stockings to put up was the first iffy moment. You could write it off as her not thinking things through but she is in someone else’s house so you’d expect that the stockings are already taken care of. Then she mentions creating their own ornaments to put on the tree when it’s clear that Kate already has her own. Maggie even decides to let her eldest daughter pierce her ears as a quick “win” when she didn’t think it was a good idea initially. I think the issue is that this usually works when the new girl is shown to be mean but the problem is that Kate was anything but.

She was as nice as possible throughout the film but gets her feelings squashed over and over again. Maggie has had the kids all the time so this was Kate’s first chance to make a positive impression on them. For once it was like watching a Hallmark movie in reverse where Kate would have been the main character in most circumstances but we don’t get to see the movie from her perspective. Maggie keeping the kids from tuba sliding with Kate and not ever giving a proper apology for it was unfortunate.

It just kept getting worse throughout the movie. Maggie skipped out on dinner which would completely wreck the vibe that Jeff was going for when he tries to propose to Kate and this didn’t help the kids’ reactions since it’s obvious why Maggie isn’t there. So now they would feel like she is opposed to this and Maggie immediately ran off for the rebound. Now the rebound romance is a Hallmark staple and was inevitable but it still doesn’t work very well here. Focus on the kids right now and getting through Christmas but there’s no time for a quick romance. She barley even knows the guy so even if she finds him charming and all that, you have to give these things time.

Back to Kate though, she just has to be the most tragic character here and the worst part is that she handles everything as well as possible. When her day’s plans are dashed she doesn’t get upset at anyone and just tries hard to move on. When everyone was having fun partying she was resetting the stockings so Maggie’s could be included. When Maggie suddenly decided that her daughter’s ears could be pierced, Kate spent time trying to find her good earrings. When Maggie got an ankle injury and kept one of the kids from going with Kate, she didn’t argue or make a fuss. Kate turned the other cheek and tried to be the bigger person in every scene.

She even politely tried asking Sam for help or at least to stop making things more difficult for her. Of course he was no help there since he was firmly on team Maggie but she really tried just about everything. She even stuck up for Maggie when Sam tried to steal her room. So in the end the problem is that it’s so one sided. Kate was doing her best to make everyone happy and to make things comfortable for Maggie while Maggie never had a positive thought about Kate. Maggie was super selfish the whole time and even at the end she never truly apologizes to Kate when I think that she should have.

The movie never portrays Kate as an antagonist which is good but I still don’t think her ending was as satisfying as it could have been. She should have gotten some kind of really big win to make up for things or a full apology from Maggie. I’d say that she deserved as much. Jeff is also in a tough position. He won’t just take everything the way that Kate does and so he does speak to Maggie a few times. Eventually he gets through to her but he was certainly in a tough spot as well. We know that his marriage to Maggie didn’t work out even if the explanation was not the best. They were best friends and didn’t realize that they didn’t love each other like that….and yet they had two kids and were together for a while so that certainly took them some time.

It’s better than making one of them the villain and it’s great that they still got along but it still felt like a bit of an odd explanation there. Finally you’ve got Sam who is the Mr Perfect of the film. He’s an expert chef, great people person, and he’s great at all the sports. He does a good job of cheering Maggie up and doing well at work. He balances everything out really well in the film. It’s great that he helps Maggie out so much but at the same time you do feel like he basically abandoned Kate as a result. She could have really used a little backup during the movie with everything going sideways.

Personally if I was invited to a rich estate to just watch I would still have a blast eating as much food as I can. I’d be stuffing my face constantly and just enjoying the good vibes. I always thought those homemade Gingerbread cakes always looked amazing. I would have a really good time eating one of those and I should probably try to get one at some point. Something for the bucket list that’s for sure.

Overall, This was a good Christmas movie as always by Hallmark. It got a little close to being mean spirited towards Kate at times though. Not as bad as Home Alone of course where they really dropped the ball in one of the sequels with the step mom. This one at least has a lot of restraint the whole time which is good. I’d still recommend this one to any Christmas movie fans out there. You’ll have a good time with it and you’ve got the usual songs and fun Christmas visuals going on. The song the lead was singing at the beginning was one I didn’t really recognize and I can’t say that the tempo worked but maybe I’m just too used to the old classics at this point.

Overall 7/10

Driver: San Francisco Review

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This game I’ve had in the closet for so many years. Earlier this year I finally bought the two previous installments so it was time at last to play this one. I greatly enjoyed the first game which is still one of the definitive driving games of all time but the last two were more standard. This one brings things back to a high point and is a great game. It certainly wins in plot but the original still has the best gameplay and at this point I think that will be tough to surpass.

The game starts with John Tanner putting a villain behind bars but unfortunately he breaks out almost immediately and gets revenge by putting John in a coma. Now here’s where things start to get tricky. So John wakes up back in the car but now he has super powers. He can possess anybody at will which is cool and then his real body becomes a quiet zombie on autopilot in the meantime. With these powers maybe he can stop the villain and save the city. There is a big bomb being created so there’s a race against time. But how come he keeps getting visions where he is still in the hospital and seeing weird signs? Well no time to worry about that now!

The Driver games are usually as realistic as they get so it’s a bit odd to see the game take more of a supernatural approach but it leads to one of the best driving game mechanics that I’ve seen in a while. The story is also fun with this. It plays out like a very interactive movie. In each level there is a lot of dialogue and of course there are a whole lot of cutscenes scattered throughout the game. That helps to make the whole thing feel really high budget. Another nice thing is they recorded a good amount of dialogue for each mission so when you die and try again, you’ll usually near some new lines as well. It’s a clever way to keep things from feeling too stale if you were to hear the same lines every time.

Now for the gameplay, mainly you’ve got the driving as normal. Unfortunately this part isn’t as polished as the average driving game. Turns are really difficult to make here as the cars have a very tough time turning while moving forward. You’re going to be bumping a whole lot and the car also tends to go unbalanced really quickly if you hit anything. Definitely something to keep in mind the whole time you are playing. You will really want to slow down for those turns, but fortunately there aren’t too many races. Mainly this just gets tricky when you are trying to evade the cops so instead of looking for the hidden paths, try driving into traffic and dodging the cars. That will help you lose them quick.

Now for the new mechanic. As a ghost you can fly out of your car and possess somebody. You can move around the field from a bird’s eye view and have 3 different zooms on this. It’s really fun to take over the cars and they come in real handy when attacking your enemies. You can take control of a car and just have him ram into the villain. You can do this at any point to any car so it makes it really hard for the opponent to even try to dodge. It also makes for some interesting boss fights later on in the game. You know a lot of times I’m not a big fan of new mechanics and gimmicks if they don’t work just right but this is one that actually was a success.

It enhances the game which is exactly what a gimmick should do and it was fun to use the whole time. I never got bored of it that’s for sure. There’s a trophy for doing that 1000 times and I made it through about 400 so I better get to work on grinding the rest out. The game’s length is fairly decent. I want to say the game is about 5-6 hours long. Maybe a little above that but roughly in that range. For most genres that probably sounds small but the previous 2 Driver games were about 90 minutes so this is still a big improvement. There is also replay value to get more trophies although unfortunately the servers are down so the Platinum is impossible to obtain now. It’s too bad that couldn’t have stayed up longer. Still there is some replay value here as a result.

The graphics are really solid here. This feels like more of a high end PS3 game in that area. The game loves showing off the big zoom ins as a result. While you’re in the gameplay everything is clear and you can always tell what is happening. The stages will sometimes have a fun visual effect like turning blue or yellow depending on what is going on with John’s psyche and that’s always a nice touch. The soundtrack has a ton of lyrical songs. For the most part they seemed pretty solid. I didn’t get any that were really obnoxious and it never takes over the sound of the dialogue coming through. Whoever did the sound mixing did a good job for this game that’s for sure.

Overall, Driver was a lot of fun to play through. If the driving was just a little smoother it would make the game even better. After all I love pushing through tight corners and really styling on the opponents but with the controls like this I couldn’t quite do that. Still the story is a lot of fun and I give the game tons of credit for having full voice acting for every single cutscene. Whether it was a story mission or one of the side ones, everything had the voices on point and I think that’s great. It’s not something that you see everywhere even if you would expect that to be the standard at this point. So the game has to get a lot of credit for that all around. If you haven’t gotten this game yet then you definitely should. The story alone is worth the purchase as this would make for a great movie. You can also get a good price for it nowadays.

Overall 8/10

Greenland Review

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Greenland is one of those films where the end of the world is approaching so people take that opportunity to be as vicious and mean as possible. It feels like everywhere the heroes went they would be attacked by some crazy person. The film could have benefited from having more destruction scenes with big visuals but in the end I’d still say it was a solid film. It certainly shows how chaotic things would be no matter how many plans there were.

The movie starts off with John and Allison trying to have a normal party when John receives an alert that his family has been chosen to survive the comet that is going to destroy most of the planet. He has to grab his wife and kid and head to the evacuation shelter immediately. It’s a bit of an awkward situation though because the neighbors were not selected and the general mindset there is that they sort of just have to deal with it and accept their incoming destruction. Some of them try to be good sports about it but of course others aren’t so accepting. Still there isn’t really much that they can do but unfortunately the main family gets split up when getting ready to board the plane. There is also a rule that you can’t go on if you’re sick and as their son Nathan is diabetic, he is not allowed to fly. This leads to none of the family making it out and it’ll be very difficult to find each other again with the wifi out. Is this the end of their journey?

You can imagine how hard it is to find one person in a huge city when there is general chaos everywhere and no way to make electronic contact. The movie does a good job of showing the big contrast here compared to before the cellular towers went out. It also doesn’t help that just about everyone is going crazy. So to get into the shelter you have to have the wristband/QR code with your name on it. That’s the only way to get through so of course the people who aren’t chosen eagerly want this even if it means resorting to murder. Both John and Allison face different threats due to this.

Of course it’s all easier in hindsight but the instant they weren’t let on board they probably should have tossed out the wristbands. It only served to make them a target and nobody would ever know that they were selected if they had just gotten rid of them right away. It would have immediately put them in a really good spot at least compared to the rest of the people around. Still with how corrupt everyone is here, maybe they’d be attacked anyway. It’s a consistent theme that in times of distress people will always go crazy and turn into the villains. It’s unfortunate but at this point that’s just how things tend to play out.

John does a good job in the present of not panicking and always having a plan. He made a rather massive mistake in the past prior to the film starting though which is why things are so tense between him and his wife. I can’t say that he ever gets past this even if he does as well as he can in the present. He has to fight someone who wants to steal his ID and keeps moving forward in the film even as more and more challenges keep accumulating. It’s important to stay strong and just keep fighting in a situation like because once you lose hope then it’s all over.

Meanwhile Allison is fighting hard on her part as well. She had a really tough start with the guards not letting her son through and having to try and walk back home on her own. Additionally she needed to find insulin for Nathan or he wouldn’t be able to make it for the whole journey. Adding Nathan was basically a way to keep things from being a little on the easier side for Allison and John. Without him they would have had a lot of other options but when you have a sick kid at the ready then that’s something you have to account for.

Being attacked during the car ride was certainly something Allison couldn’t have predicted. I think her best bet would have been to run to the front and try to drive while the guy was outside though. Even if you just make it a few minutes at top speed it would be hard for him to catch up. You could also try backing into him but otherwise once he gets into the car you know you’re doomed so you need to do something really drastic.

While the film may hold back on the big explosions and all at times, we still get some fun visuals when they do strike. The sky certainly looks cool and the big chunks of meteor are definitely very imposing. You absolutely do not want to be in the way when they strike. The film has a good sense of danger about it as well and there is a high body count. You actually feel bad for the people inside the first plane because John slowing them down and trying to get out directly caused a bunch of them to die because the plane caught fire before it could go. I’m sure they wished they were in a different plane very quickly.

John’s step father appears later on in the film and he’s a fairly chill guy. I don’t agree with his idea to just stay at home and be destroyed though. Sure it’s probably easier than going on a big chase with only a small percentage chance at survival but at least you’re doing something. I feel like dying without a fight just sounds so much worse. Sure he could still live of course but worst case you could get trapped or it may take a while. In some cases the trip may not be worth it but in this case it seemed well worth the risks.

Overall, Greenland is a good film. It could have used a bit of a stronger cast and more destruction scenes in place of the humans being the villains all the time but it could still make for a good recommendation. If you want to see more of a low key disaster film then this is the one for you. The kid may annoy you at times with some of the trouble that he causes but it’s not like it’s intentional so I suppose we can cut him a little slack. There is apparently a sequel coming out soon and I hope they embrace a more supernatural angle like zombies appearing. I’m not even the biggest fan of zombies but otherwise focusing on the cleanup just doesn’t seem exciting enough. Maybe you could have another disaster happen right away, that would be intense.

Overall 6/10

Soylent Green Review

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It’s time for a depressing run through the dystopian future that is Soylent Green. It’s pretty cool that it takes place in 2022 though. The world ended up getting quite ugly with too many people everywhere and the planet finally running out of resources. I like the concept and all but this is the kind of film that gets rather gritty quickly and is more focused on shocking you than delivering a great story half the time. I’d like to see another writer take a shot at this idea but of course you probably need to push the year up for any remake to 2040 or something like that.

So that’s the setting of the movie. There are just so many people nowadays that there aren’t enough houses and most live on the streets. There are hundreds of squatters in every building just trying to find a place to rest and even climbing up the stairs is a hassle with everyone sleeping there. Only if you’re super rich will you have a place to stay and actual food. Otherwise everyone just has Soylent Green to live off of which doesn’t even have much of a taste. No food has taste except for the ultra rich. The houses come with “Furniture” which is unfortunately what the women are called now and you can probably tell all that you need to from the term itself.

The world is as bad as it can be and the film focuses on Robert who is doing his best to live through it. He is a detective investigating a recent assassination. While it may have seemed routine at first, Robert feels like there is more to it than that. The guy who got bumped off was a top executive for Soylent and he seemingly went down without a fight which was odd. The bosses also don’t want him focusing on this case for too long which is another red flag. These are starting to add up which is another thing to watch out for. Can he survive long enough to find out what is going on?

Robert may be the main character but calling him a hero would be a stretch. The film makes clear that all of the heroes are gone at this point since there really isn’t room for heroics when everyone is just trying to survive. Robert steals whatever he can when doing routine inspections and is quite shameless about it. He abuses his power to do so and of course nobody can really talk back to him. It’s probably the biggest perk of the job since he gets to have real food and use actual water to take a shower. Those are luxuries people don’t get otherwise at this point.

He’s also quick to have an affair with one of the ladies and in general comes across as a flirt a lot of the time. It seems to be more a way of passing the time than something he is usually serious about though. He is well accustomed to the world at this point and can talk tough to anyone, even the villains so Robert is never run over. He fits in with the setting and atmosphere quite smoothly. I just never found him all that likable. He’s much preferable to a more timid main character who wouldn’t be able to hold his own here but that’s about it. I wouldn’t give him too many consolation prizes beyond that.

He has a friend named Sol who is even older and vividly remembers the world as it used to be. Adapting has been really tough for him although he tries his best. Unfortunately as the film goes on it becomes way too much for him. It would have been better if he could have stayed strong even if you understand the temptation. As a result of conditions being so tough, there is now an assisted suicide facility where you get one real meal and they play you sounds/music/videos of your choosing as the drugs go in and you quickly die. It’s a painless death that is made to be as comfortable as possible.

Assisted suicide is always a super controversial topic without any doubt. Some will be against it on the premise alone while others would support it on the basis that it can be useful in some circumstances. In a situation like this movie where people literally can’t eat and everyone is dying of overpopulation, you can easily see how it would pass. It’s always just a slippery slope because where do you draw the line? Well, I don’t think that’s something the world will have to worry about for a long time unless we do enter a dystopia like this. It’s definitely a very eerie scene precisely because of how clean and shiny the place looks. It appears so out of place in this dark world that the whole thing feels ominous and almost like a trap. It works effectively as a way to show you how dangerous the place is.

There is a pretty big twist at the end of the film that is also quite disturbing. I thought this twist was very effective and it also makes a whole lot of sense in universe. The world is suffering from a ton of problems but almost all of them stem from the fact that there are too many people on Earth. Their numbers exceeded the resources so you would need to find a way to take care of that. Unfortunately I can absolutely see the ending being something considered in the real world but at the same time I could also see war being a way to take care of the issue much sooner. Regardless it does gives you a lot to think about.

So on a story perspective I thought the film was very interesting the whole time. There was just so much going on. That said, it really could have dropped some elements. First off, the whole “furniture” element needs to be tossed out immediately. Not only is it just an awful concept from the start but it also sours the romance entirely. When Robert is having a fling with one of the ladies who seems to be really attracted to him, there is always the undertone that she is doing this for protection. She basically has no rights at this point so getting close to a detective with his amount of power would be tactically smart. She even says that she is frightened at several points and ultimately it’s difficult because there isn’t a lot that he can do in the long term. Then you see how this is an issue for lots of people and the film gets way too dark there.

The movie is clearly trying to do a lot of worldbuilding which is effectively does as Robert digs into the case but some elements just weren’t good. No matter how bad the world got in 2022, it just doesn’t seem like that would have happened. In general it’s hard to see how the rich haven’t all been taken out by this point either with how the system is set up but I can maybe believe that a bit more. The movie just should have focused more on the murder case and the twist at the end instead of the romance angle and how disturbing life at the top is.

Overall, Soylent Green is a film that does work really well in visualizing a terrifying dystopia. You would not want to live in that world and it is a really scary prospect. It just should have stuck more to that terrifying atmosphere and mystery elements instead of going more for shock value and throwing in some grit. if you remove the furniture concept the film immediately jumps up a bit. I’m not saying it would be great as the doom and gloom backdrop doesn’t make for a lot of fun visuals but it would still capture your attention all the way through. So while I enjoy the concept I wouldn’t be recommending this one.

Overall 3/10

The Last Full Measure

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This breakdown is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a breakdown of the unedited version would likely be more negative.

It’s time for a film based on true events during the Vietnam war. This movie shows how important the Medal of Honor is and why it’s not just any ole award for anyone who received it or to those who never got one. It’s part of the character arc for the main lead and in the end this makes for a solid war film. Most of the events take place after the war but we do get flashbacks scattered throughout the film.

The movie starts with Scott getting ready for a big promotion. His career has been going very well so far but then he is given a task to try and help get William a posthumous medal of honor award. This request was brought forth by his partner in the unit, Tom. He believes that William earned the medal and Scott has to figure out why he didn’t get one. Scott isn’t very interested in this task because it seems incredibly difficult and the chances of success are slim. Still, his boss tells him he needs to do this. Scott’s co-worker says Scott should just procrastinate since the section is being closed down soon anyway but it certainly would not be the honorable thing to do. As Scott gets more invested in the case he finds out that there may be a bit of a conspiracy going on.

As you can imagine Scott isn’t the nicest character at the beginning of the movie. He really would have dismissed Tom’s case entirely if he wasn’t forced to do it and then later on he has to get even more encouragement to pull through with it. Ultimately it is a tough case for sure so it’s no walk in the park but not giving it your all is always the wrong move. No matter what the task, you can only complete it if you are giving it your 100% effort.

Tom gets a lot of credit for bringing this case up and sticking with it for a long time. He calls in favors and pulls as much weight as he can to keep trying to get this completed. It wouldn’t have been easy and I’m sure he faced some pushback of his own but he kept on going. He was really a loyal friend and never forgot what William did for him. It’s not likely that you would forget it when someone saved your life on a big battlefield like that.

As we see more and more of William’s heroics in the flashbacks you really come to appreciate just what a good guy he was and exactly how much hard work he put into the task. It would have been easy at many times to do things by the book or even just run out of there but William helped everyone he could see. Those scenes during the war were all very intense but it was an interesting perspective to have them as flashbacks so most of the film takes place in real time. We get to see more of the political side of things once the war was over and how the awards part was handled.

Each of the veterans do their best to help the case with their testimonies as well. It isn’t easy as many of them suffer from PTSD in different ways. So even going to the award ceremony was a bit of a battle but they did it for their old friend. As a whole this is a very inspirational type film about how the platoon really did stick together through thick and thin. They weren’t going to leave anyone behind and in this context that means ensuring that William did not get cheated out of his medal.

Scott’s co-worker plays the role of the main antagonist here. He starts out subtly by giving Scott bad advice but by the end he is going directly into blackmail and trying to sabotage things every step of the way. Fortunately Scott still went ahead with his plan so even if he didn’t start out as a very good character, he ended up in a good spot. I’d say by the end that he had earned the right to be considered a quality character. He took some big risks of his own by the end.

Overall, The Last Full Measure does a good job of showing just how difficult it is to try and lead a normal life after being involved in a war. You just see a lot of things that you’ll never forget even after it ends. There are a lot of tragedies going on even after the war as well as the deeper Scott gets into the story, the more he sees how many lives were affected. The film can perhaps get a little too detailed in some aspects during the war and you certainly see the horror of battle but it feels like an accurate depiction of the events that happened. I can’t say I’m familiar enough with the records to say for sure if anything was missed but anyone wanting to learn more about William’s story with the medal of honor and the Vietnam battles should enjoy this film. It may be quite serious but it’s ultimately got a happy ending and should leave you satisfied.

Ken vs Ninetails (Pokemon)

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Suggested by Sonic Ken is a nice guy and you can always count on him to do the right thing. He’s a man of many talents but at the end of the day being a fighter isn’t one of those. Ninetails strikes with attacks of unimaginable might. A single shot would be enough to take Ken down for the count. He’s just not ready to go up against that level of power. It’s not happening and so he will go down here. Ninetails (Pokemon) wins.

Elfman Strauss vs Zane (Brave Tuber)

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Suggested by Sonic Zane got a pretty cool super form in near the end of the series but we haven’t really seen him fight as much as you would like. He does have good speed and strength but right here right now I don’t think he has enough to take down Elfman. Elfman isn’t the fastest fighter but his strength is above Zane’s and he has a lot more combat experience. This will be enough for him to win the day and block any of Zane’s counter strikes. Elfman Strauss wins.