Monthly Archives: April 2023

Taurus Fire vs Lute

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Suggested by Sonic Lute is a skilled fighter who knows how to push Rathalos to his absolute limits. That said, he’s not a super versatile fighter and if you knock him off of the dragon then it’s all over. Taurus has an advantage here in that he himself is very strong so Lute has to take him down without making any mistakes. I don’t think Lute and Rathalos will be fast enough to dodge his fire attacks for very long and each hit will deal a lot of damage. Taurus Fire wins.

Yuta Okkotsu vs Khun

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Suggested by Sonic The toughest thing about being known as a strategist is that sometimes you don’t really get to compete with the more powerful characters in the verse. Khun has gotten some power ups over the years but never anything too crazy. His flame fish might slow Yuta down but ultimately this sorcerer has taken down way more powerful cursed spirits and the like over the years. He has the speed to dodge Khun’s defenses and has enough attack power to completely obliterate the kid. There would be no way out for Khun here. Yuta Okkotsu wins.

Duel Sieger vs Chaud

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Suggested by Sonic Duel Sieger is a very powerful monster and one of the more powerful ones in the whole world of Buddyfight. That being said, he’s not going to quite be a match for Chaus here. Crossfusion gives Chaus access to abilities beyond any monster and his Protoman was already a super powerful ally. Duel Sieger doesn’t have the speed to keep up and will quickly be taken down for the count because his defense is not enough to survive the attacks for very long. Chaud wins.

Ryu Hayabusa vs Gourry

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Suggested by Sonic Gourry is a strong swordsman. While he may have trouble against the more powerful magical fighters in Slayers, you can always count on him to give it his best. He has good speed and durability as well but ultimately I would say that Ryu has the advantage in most attributes. Ryu is still faster than Gourry and has more sword techniques at his disposal so in a fight he should be landing hits more regularly. Ultimately Gourry has better equipment but it won’t be enough. Ryu Hayabusa wins.

Season of the Witch Review

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Whenever you have a film taking place back in the olden days with witches, demons, werewolves and the like I have to assume that the film is not going to be very good. Sure that is a general plot and so you can definitely surpass that if need be but what are the odds realistically right? I doubt they are very good at least with the track record and this one is no exception. Sure there are some interesting moments and plot lines scattered around the place but ultimately the movie could not capitalize on any of them and so it failed in the end.

The film starts off by showing us how skilled Felson and Behmen are. They utterly decimate opposing armies in every fight that they are in. We see a montage of them in countless fights and it’s definitely impressive how ahead of the curve they are in the battles. Nobody can really touch them or even come close. Well one day Behmen ends up murdering an innocent civilian and he becomes disillusioned with the whole thing. He now realizes that he was merely a soldier of battle and quite the army. Felson follows him but unfortunately they are quickly captured by the same army again. Their mission is to bring a suspected witch back into custody with them to face justice at a “fair” trial. Behmen doesn’t much like this but orders are orders and trying to escape the whole army again would be tricky. The girl’s name is Anna and she seems incredibly suspicious and crafty but that doesn’t automatically make her a witch. Behmen will have to handle this carefully.

I did find part of the intro funny in how quickly the two leads were captured though. These were the kingdom’s best warriors and yet they could be brought back in so easily? Have to admit that they lost a lot of hype there. I give some credit for wanting to leave the army in the first place of course but I really didn’t think that they would be brought back so quickly. As for the mission itself, well in a way they know that this won’t be a fair trial but they aren’t the justice system so what can be done? I think just running off for a second time would have been just fine to be honest but it is what it is.

Anna is unashamedly suspicious the whole time to the point where it can definitely be real amusing. She keeps on using magic and messing with the heroes so it seems obvious that she is a witch but they can’t prove it yet. She even goes out of her way to save someone who nearly plummeted to his doom by using her super strength. Even the characters can be confused sometimes on if she is sympathetic or not. It’s just really hard to get a read on her and that’s definitely by design. For what it’s worth she was a good antagonist for this reason. She really kept the heroes sharp and always on edge. Her abilities were solid too and versatile. She had flight, mind manipulation, animal summoning/transformation, super strength, etc. Yeah that’s a lot for any human to deal with and by the end her scenes get even better in hindsight.

Unfortunately you can probably guess how the animal summoning ended up being a net negative here. We have to sit through an extended scene of the heroes destroying a bunch of dogs that she transformed into werewolves. Definitely a scene that didn’t need to be here and it really drags down the experience. At this point they should have taken her down since this also directly murdered some members of the team. You don’t exactly need a trial when the villain openly murders people in front of you right? Well, unfortunately Debelzaq the priest says you do need that so there isn’t much the heroes can do about this. Behmen ultimately stands down but the body count only continues to rise.

These are guys who don’t have a no killing code or anything like that so in light of this it just doesn’t make sense to spare her. Anna will only continue to cause more death and destruction in her wake the longer they keep her alive. It’s always hard to defeat the supernatural and this is just another example of that. Behmen and the others are completely outmatched and only plot armor is enough to help them win. It’s why I say films always need to be careful not to make their villains end up being too powerful or there’s just no way to buy into the hero ever winning. When you create an unwinnable situation that’s exactly what happens.

Ultimately I did like Behmen as a character though. He wanted to do the right thing and protect everyone. His motivations were always good and he let his actions do the talking for him like when he left the army early on. He won’t be a part of anything that is unjust and has the strongest moral center of the group. His partner Felson is solid as well but that guy’s more relaxed and will just do whatever he feels like doing. He follows Behmen since they’re friends but it’s less about the morality of it and more because that’s just what he wants to do.

The film actually has a fairly large cast of characters accompanying the main two on the trip but you will forget most of them immediately because they don’t do anything. You’ve got a guy with a tragic past, the priest who is always ready to exorcise, the comic relief maps guy, etc. They’re all just here for the body count and you know it. There is never even an attempt to start liking these guys or making them a part of the main cast. It’s just not happening and so the film treats their characters rather half heartedly.

You’ve got your share of jump scares here but the film is more action than horror. The film just likes using some strong imagery so that you can see how threatening the villains are. We get lots of zoom ins on rather deformed faces on the witch side and while the film isn’t super violent, it does have some moments here and there. The imagery can be more gross than violent at times although I suppose it depends on the scene.

I think this film could have really shined by focusing on the main two guys as they look for a battle that is worth fighting. They stop just blindly listening to orders and look for a chance to really make a difference. Having them work for the army again was a really odd move and not the one I would have chosen. From there they are back to following orders even when they have doubts and that’s what doesn’t work as well about this film. It sort of goes against their whole character choice in the beginning to do that.

Overall, I liked one of the twists at the end of the film but this one didn’t live up to its full potential. After a while it felt like this film was even trying to be the next Exorcist although it still beats those easily. Witches can make for decent villains when you focus more on their magic and the cool fantasy battles we can have but outside of that they aren’t super interesting. So when you just have Anna locked up in the cage for most of the film it takes some of the bite out of the experience. A sequel could maybe do better but lets shift the time-frame to modern day. Trust me that setting works way better.

Overall 2/10

The Gift Review

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

It’s time for one of those films about watching out for the next door neighbor. You never know who you’re going to be living next to when moving for the first time and so you always hope it’s a nice happy family. Sometimes that’s not the case though. Personally it’s rare that I really talk to or know my neighbors much at all but of course it’s a bit different in an apartment vs a house. The movie’s got an okay premise I suppose but ultimately this one’s definitely not much of a winner.

So the movie starts off with Simon and his wife Robyn getting a house and they’re looking forward to life going perfectly. Unfortunately that doesn’t quite happen as a man called Gordo appears and he claims to be Simon’s old classmate from school way back in the day. Simon doesn’t remember him at first but does afterwards and is puzzled because they weren’t friends. In the present Gordo keeps on bringing gifts and doing all kinds of favors for the main two but it quickly gets into weird territory. Simon quickly shuts this down as he’s as rude to Gordo as possible but now things have taken a turn from weird into dangerous when their pet dog goes missing. Is Gordo actually here to murder them?

Now this film is one of those titles where most of the characters are super unlikable. The only decent one here is Robyn and she’s going through a tough time with this since Simon keeps blowing up at her about Gordo now. He seems to be getting jealous quickly of the guy and is also hiding some secrets from his past. Robyn really wants him to be straight with her but when that’s not a possibility she can no longer trust him. Then Gordo can’t be trusted either because the guy is overstepping his bounds like breaking into the house while the main characters are away. No excuse is good enough for that to be warranted.

While Robyn means well I do think that she’s rather oblivious at times though. For example letting Gordo into the house while Simon isn’t there was not a great idea. Particularly since she barely knew him at all. I know you can’t be too paranoid when living out in the country since at that point you couldn’t even open up the door but she really seemed to be defenseless the whole time. At least have a can of pepper spray in your pocket. Even going for those long daily runs in the middle of nowhere every morning seemed a bit iffy. That said, at least she was polite the whole time.

Then you have Simon who immediately starts badmouthing Gordo behind his back and calling the guy names. This is before Gordo even started going too far. It’s like Simon was just being mean from the jump. Now this makes sense the more the film goes on as we see that he’s just not a good guy but it’s a good way not to root for him right away. Simon’s verbal attacks are never justified and even to the end you never feel like he has really changed as a person. He puts himself first above all else and really doesn’t give Robyn any thoughts during the climax. It’s all about him and well the guy is just a bully. There’s not much more that needs to be said than that and the guy is basically an antagonist by the end of the film.

Of course with all this said….Gordo is still a big villain here. No matter how mean to him Simon was, the guy is still terrorizing Robyn as well and kidnapping the dog was uncalled for. Fortunately nothing happened to the dog since that would have really torn the film apart but this guy loses his sympathy points real quick. I also get the feeling that he would have been messing with the main characters even if Simon did treat him well from the start. The guy was just acting very odd in a very intentional way. I believe he would have forced the confrontation at some point or another. At most Simon just sped it up but this guy was certainly looney.

We eventually learn why Gordo has this grudge against Simon and it definitely makes Simon and another character look really awful. You would just expect better and the film certainly wanted to go all out with having the gritty backstory. Fortunately there is a twist on the twist which is still awful but at least not as grim. The whole movie is really a race to the bottom between characters.

Now there is something that happens at the very end of the film which had the potential to drop this film down to a 0. Fortunately I don’t believe the “event” actually happened. To get into it too much would delve into spoilers but there are two main arguments I would say are on my side as to why this didn’t happen. The first is that this is a narrative callback to what happened in Gordo’s past. Just as something didn’t actually happen in his backstory, I would say that it didn’t in the present. It just serves as the ultimate revenge to have Simon think that this happened.

The other data point that supports me here is his last line to Robyn about how good things happen to good people. To me the only way he would use this line is to let her and the viewer know that this didn’t happen. At the end of the day his grudge was with Simon not her. He also got to hear her defending him from when he bugged the room. During the film at most he would just use her as ammo against Simon and this would be a fairly big jump from that. It’s still annoying that they didn’t definitively confirm my theory to be correct since it doesn’t take anything away from the revenge and if anything helps the movie. Keeping it even slightly ambiguous was just annoying.

Even with that the film wasn’t going to be very good though. The characters are just so unlikable between Simon and Gordo that it hurts a whole lot. Their dialogue is always pretty bad and in general the writing wasn’t very good here. At least the ending offers a tiny glimmer of hope for Robyn but even then it’s not the super happy ending you were waiting for. We got a few jump scares here and there but it’s not like this film is particularly scary either. The cops excuse for not going after Gordo felt rather weak though since it seems like it was really easy to find the guy.

Overall, The Gift just isn’t a very pleasant movie at the end of the day. Bad things keep happening to the characters and while Simon deserves it, you just feel bad for Robyn. At least she did take a stand by the end and I appreciate that. I also appreciate that the film didn’t do anything bad to the dog since that would have really been awful. You’re still just not going to have a very good time with this film. It delivers on having a ton of twists but for the evil neighbor angle it’s probably more effective to actually have the main characters be likable rather than doubling down and having both sides be antagonistic.

Overall 3/10

Young Sherlock Holmes Review

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This film was interesting because I just don’t remember ever hearing about it, but clearly it must have been a fairly big deal back in the day. It’s Sherlock Holmes after all! If that isn’t enough to make this a really big household name then I don’t know what would be. The movie is part mystery to an extent but to be honest it’s more of a thriller all the way. It works out well though and while I could see some Holmes fans being a little disappointed, this was before he was a true detective so I’d say it works out fine. He gets to have one explosive adventure before things turn realistic again.

The movie introduces us to a younger Sherlock Holmes who is already widely known for his genius level intellect. The guy isn’t afraid to show it off either and is 100% confident in his abilities. Holmes has no need to be humble when he’s the best although he does tend to lose in fencing to professor Rathe. It’s the only thing in which he isn’t the best. Well, the quiet days are over when a mysterious group begins murdering people using powerful hallucinations. It’s as if the Scarecrow is around. Basically this dart that they hit people with makes them see their worst fears before dying. The body count is slowly starting to rise and when one of Holmes’ favorite teachers is bumped off it is time for him to act. Unfortunately he will have to do it while on the run since he has been kicked out of school. Can he pull this off or is it game over?

One thing you’ll notice right away is that the film is having a blast showing off all of its special effects. You have CGI dragons running around and lots of moving objects as part of the hallucinations. There is even a giant throne room like something out of Harry Potter for the villains’ hideout. It’s all very fantastical and so again it doesn’t feel like Sherlock Holmes but the visuals are still really fun to look at. I do feel like some of the deaths from the hallucinations were a bit convenient though like one guy stabbing himself and another jumping out the window. To an extent you have to know that the hallucinations aren’t real so you want to break through them but you have to know that certain actions will still hurt you in the real world.

The most tragic part of the film is definitely that the heroes are rather late to make a difference. For example, the villains have this whole human sacrifice thing going on and so they’ve been murdering people for a while. The heroes make it in time to see a woman get burned alive and they don’t end up saving her which was unfortunate. They only manage to save the main heroine and it’s just a rough way to go. It makes the police detective Lestrade look even worse because Holmes keeps trying to get the guy to help but he couldn’t care less. Usually he isn’t very helpful in these things but he may as well have been a complete villain in this case. He actively did his best to prevent Holmes and the others from helping out. If he wasn’t an established character in the mythos I would have assumed he was in on the take the whole time. That’s how absolutely corrupt the guy was.

At least you can always count on Holmes to be a really solid character. He did well analytically and this was also before he would get more emotionless so you actually get to see him get mad and put up a real fight. This version of Sherlock Holmes may lag behind the experienced one but the film does a good job of making him stand out and showing how he has changed over the years. Watson also gets to help out a bit here. Ultimately not a ton but his contributions are never forgotten and so he’s always an easy character to root for.

I wasn’t as impressed with the quirky Rupert. I felt like he was only here to help out with one particular invention for near the end but otherwise he just felt a bit out of place. At least professor Rathe was an expert fighter and had a lot of lore behind him. I rather enjoyed Rathe, now here was a character who contributed a lot to the plot and was also very interesting. He could actually hold his own against Holmes which is something that almost no other character could pull off.

Then there is Elizabeth who gets a decent sized role as the main heroine. She helps Holmes out when he’s in a pinch and can always be counted on to support him. Ultimately she does about as much as she possibly can during the course of the film. Holmes had a lot of enemies here so it was always good to have some allies. Watson was helpful too in his own way. Just like in the other films he always comes through when it counts even if he can’t follow Holmes on an intellectual level. He can pull off the physical feats that help make a big difference here.

I enjoyed the action a lot here and so this worked well as a prequel. In a lot of ways this felt like a Harry Potter film too but going at a lightning fast pace. I would have enjoyed staying at the school a little longer and you could have turned this into a whole movie series. The instant Holmes left the school though, it felt like the only logical step would be to pick up with him being an experienced expert. After all, that would be his big reunion with Watson and that would tie into the main novels. Feels like they left a lot of potential stories on the chopping block here by switching things up like that.

Overall, Young Sherlock Holmes is a pretty good movie. It’s an action film which pretty much plays things by the book so I wouldn’t expect anything crazy to happen here. The special effects go all in though and your attention will be captured the whole way through. There is a mystery here but for the most part that never really seems to be the focus. The answers just sort of appear as Holmes is fighting his way through all of the villains and that works out well enough as this is more of a thriller but it’s why I’d say you shouldn’t go into this one expecting a full blown mystery. It’s just not that kind of film so enjoy the action scenes and quality dialogue instead.

Overall 7/10

Paparazzi Review

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The Paparazzi is always a team you hear about a lot on the news for usually controversial reasons. They have to get the news and will use any means to do it. So why not make a thriller film about them right? Well this one plays out in a fairly interesting way and makes them as unlikable as possible. So when the main character decides to become a vigilante you have to decide what team you’re on. Is it time to put these guys away or should the main character flee the city?

The movie starts off with Bo finally becoming an A list celebrity so of course he’s exciting. His movies are doing well and now his family can really enjoy a pleasant life. Unfortunately the Paparazzi decide to get involved. Led by Rex they start invading Bo’s personal life and intentionally try to push him over the edge by taking pictures of his young son. Bo takes a swing at the guy but it’s recorded so the whole thing becomes a big incident. Rex decides to keep on going and next he rams into Bo’s car and sends both his wife and kid into the hospital. Maybe it’s time for Bo to start his counter attack.

Now I would say that Bo was holding back for quite a long while here. It’s not like he just jumped into the action right away. He did his best to stop this through legal means and then with threats but ultimately Rex just kept on escalating more and more. After his family was injured (Bo’s son even falling into a coma) Bo went to the cops but they said there was nothing they could do without evidence. Detective Burton was looking into this but no results were coming. Then Rex and friends broke into his home and attacked Bo’s wife which was really the last straw.

By this point Rex and friends were just going to keep on causing more damage so Bo had to add a personal touch. Now even then the first time it wasn’t anything premeditated. One of Rex’s buddies was messing with him but then later on drives too quickly and nearly falls off the mountain. So the villain is hanging on for dear life and Bo goes over to help him out. Just as Bo is about to push him back up to safety, the guy explains that he’s really going to start going after Bo even more intensely now and will sue him/wreck his life. So…Bo decides not to help him out and the guy falls. This villain was really not smart. Why would you antagonize the only guy who can possibly save you at this point? At least start messing with him afterwards instead.

Regardless this was where Bo really stepped into vigilante mode as he took the guy out. The villains are so comically evil though that you really don’t feel bad for them. Put it this way, Bo tried every possible method of de-escalation first and only when that didn’t work did he take the next steps. Being a vigilante always needs to be the last straw only to be used in a situation where there are no legal means left available to help you. Bo was completely out of those and since these guys were not about to stop, it was time to put them in their place.

So the whole climax ends up being very satisfying here and Bo is a fun character to root for. He is the definition of a nice guy who can only be pushed so far before he ends up having to react. The film also manages a bit of a Death Note kind of vibe here with him and Burton having a lot of veiled conversations. Burton seems to suspect a lot about Bo’s involvement here but has no proof while Bo is new to the game and plays dumb, but sometimes a little too dumb. They both basically end up at an impasse for a while there but it was very engaging to watch.

Burton isn’t a great detective though. Near the end of the film he finally realizes that he should check the security cameras around the crash to find evidence. Shouldn’t that have been the very first thing that he tried? Yeah this guy wasn’t very helpful and without Bo doing his thing I feel like Rex and the gang would have outsmarted him easily. Maybe they would have just dug up some blackmail or something. Meanwhile Rex is barely a character as he’s just a super antagonist here to make Bo’s life miserable. He takes the whole situation extremely personal so he just won’t back off. His crew is also thrilled to be doing this so there wasn’t any sympathetic moments to be had here.

What makes this film succeed is that it feels like a Batman movie but if an ordinary joe had to try and solve the case. Bo has no fancy gadgets or anything like that and he doesn’t have any connections. He has to pull this off on his own while not letting anyone get suspicious. It’s not easy in any setting but he pulls this off anyway and it makes for a fun ride. The first half can drag a bit as you wait for him to start making his move but once he does then everything really turns up.

Additionally I really liked the ending of the film. It’s one of those endings that you can take in a very light hearted way or a threatening way. It’s clear that nobody will be messing with Bo anymore if they know what is good for them but was he actively making a threat at the end or was he just having a little fun? It’s likely a mix but I would say the implied threat is absolutely there. He’ll take everything in stride as he always does but if anyone makes a wrong move then that is curtains.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. You could easily figure this to be a comic book origin movie with how it plays out. The movie has a lot of tense scenes, light hearted moments, and most importantly a good script. The verbal battles between the characters are solid and the final plan is executed very well. There are a lot of clues to pick up on and nothing feels like it was thrown in at the last moment. I’d definitely be up for a sequel to this movie someday and in the meantime I’d recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

M3gan Review

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This is a film that got a whole lot of hype before it came out. The marketing for this film was impressive because it was on the map instantly and the film did have an interesting premise so you figured it could probably do well. Ultimately the film does fumble a bit which keeps it from being a solid movie in the end but I still think the premise is good and I’d be interested in seeing what a sequel does. There is definitely a lot of room for more adventures with the evil doll.

The movie starts off Cady’s parents both being taken down for the count in a car crash so she is sent to live with her aunt Gemma. Gemma is a genius inventor trying to build the world’s first life sized robotic doll and has no time for helping a kid grow up. So she retools the robot: M3gan to be Cady’s friend and it goes so well that she convinces her boss to let her go live with it. They will have a big presentation and everything to make them the number 1 rated toy company of all time. Is this toy actually a good thing though or has Gemma just built something that could threaten all life on the planet?

This is the kind of movie where you always wonder if M3gan will just be evil from the jump or if she’ll meet enough bullies to put her on the dark side. Well, ultimately I would say this is one of those cases where she was just twisted from the start. Now I think if Gemma had been nicer to M3gan and treated her like a real person then this could have been avoided but that’s a lot of “could have” “would have” etc and at the end of the day we can only blame M3gan’s actions on M3gan herself. She could have taken the high road and the instant she cracked that was on her.

Basically her main directive is to protect Cady at all times and she does well in this function. Any threats are promptly eliminated and without mercy. The problem is that she doesn’t care because from her programming she just needs Cady to be safe. Everything else plays second fiddle to that goal and so she is following the programming, it just really wasn’t well thought through. That’s the main problem here. Gemma rushed this too much and ends up paying the price for it. You need safety measures in anything like this and it’s also why this project will never work for kids. Having full sized robots/dolls will never be feasible for a lot of obvious reasons. There is no way to guarantee that the robot will remain safe and wholesome.

M3gan does have super strength as a result of being robotic though and it’s nice to see her flexing on the cast. She gets a decent body count by the end. It’s not big like a slasher film or anything but you can generally tell when she is about to bump someone off. One character I actually felt bad for here was Gemma’s boss. Yes, the film portrays him as an antagonist but I didn’t agree with that. He has a ton of very legitimate reasons to be upset with her. First off, she is using company funds to build M3gan against his explicit orders. So it’s not like she didn’t know. He told her to stop wasting money on this project and she disobeyed his direct orders.

Furthermore, she ended up locking him out of her lab. She had no real respect for the boss and kept on ruining his day. So when M3gan corners the guy you feel bad for him because he really tried his best to stop the robot apocalypse from happening. He even had the right reaction which was to start running as soon as he saw her. Unfortunately it was just too late for him. There’s also another guy who wants to steal the designs for M3gan but that plot never really goes anywhere. He was taken out pretty quickly anyway and at first I thought that was going to be how the sequel happens because he rebuilds her but based on how the film ends this isn’t how things are going to play out.

There is a bit of a cliffhanger here. It’s not trying all that hard as far as horror endings go but it’s fun enough. Again, I do think there is a lot of potential with a sequel. You could maybe even switch up the characters a bit but either way works. Right now Cady wasn’t a great character but with a time skip she will be old enough to really contribute to the plot so that could help. She does have a good idea at the end of the film and does some damage though so I’ll give her some credit there. Additionally she is depressed for a while in the film because of her parents dying so you have to cut her some slack there.

I didn’t particularly like Gemma though. I know part of that is from her character arc of realizing that she wasn’t being a good guardian and stepping up but it takes a while to get to that point and in the meantime you’re shaking your head. She didn’t handle any of the situations with the boss very well and additionally I would say that she didn’t handle the M3gan situation well either. Shutting her off mid dialogue was a really bad move because it further reinforces that M3gan isn’t a part of the family. Likewise with shutting her off randomly. All of these things only serve to speed up M3gan’s corruption and demise. It probably would have happened at some point anyway but Gemma really could have done better all throughout.

The visuals for the movie are definitely impressive. M3gan looks very lifelike and seeing her pull off complicated dance moves while murdering everyone is great. She really stands out as a new horror icon that should withstand the test of time. In general we also don’t get a ton of horror films taking place around a high tech building and everything so it was cool to see her there in the real world and not just in abandoned forests and such.

The film isn’t even all that violent for a horror film. You get the occasional violent moment like the boss’s death but for the most part it’s fairly restrained. The only thing that really hurts the film is that it decided to get the dog involved. The instant the mean neighbor showed up with her dog I knew it was over. Both the dog and the neighbor would likely die in gruesome ways and that would be it. At least the dog is off screen but the film still included the death and doing that in general was a really bad idea. This is definitely not the way to increase the stakes and really shot the film in the foot. It’s still better than most horror films but this could have been a good movie and they blew it in the end.

Overall, M3gan is a unique horror film and one that should stay well known but it wasn’t as good as it could have been. I’d say that the movie left a lot on the table of the possibilities of an evil guard doll. In a way they should have not had the main characters find out yet because that would have set the sequel up really well. Do a slow burn as she gets more and more demented to the point where she becomes a menace to be stopped. I think that would have been a good premise for a ton of stories but there is no way to go back after that. That’s why I think having her appear with a new family in the next film makes the most sense but of course everyone loves a good revenge story so that could work too. We’ll see how it goes.

Overall 4/10

Knighthood Review

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All right it’s time to talk about a mobile game that sort of came out of nowhere and ended up being a blast. It’s the kind of mobile title that’s definitely very addicting with a whole lot of content to keep you busy. The campaign is likely upwards of 100 hours, I only just beat it now and I started the game back near the end of February. The iPhone sadly doesn’t track play time past 10 days, but I’m at 30 hours played over that time to multiply that by 6 for the 2 months and that’s even close to 200 hours. Especially considering that I was putting even more time in at first and you’ve got a big grind here. Of course that’s only the beginning as any player would tell you.

So the basic plot here is that you are a new knight ready to serve the kingdom and make a name for yourself. Your timing couldn’t be better as the kingdom is in desperate need of help now that monsters are invading. The legendary knights of old have all turned evil except for one who is determined to train you to be the best there ever was. Still, you will have to travel across several continents and defeat all of the knight masters. Are you up to the task?

The story is fairly basic but I do appreciate the fact that there are some actual cinematics here. Near the end of the game you even have a big team up among all of the characters you have met thus far against the main villain and it’s actually kind of hype. So the game’s story does hold up and the best part is that it’s a story which actually “ends”. Well….after you beat the main game there is a post game which seems to have a story of its own and there is a bit of a cliffhanger if you were to end after the main story. So it’s not 100% finite, but at least you could say you beat a saga as opposed to some games that like to just go on forever. From the start of Knighthood you know exactly how many levels there are and it helps you plan things out.

Now what is the gameplay like? Well, it’s a turn based RPG and you have 4 kinds of attacks. You have your weapon attack based on what you have equipped. Then you have your punch and the power is based on the gauntlet you have equipped. Then you have the hero abilities based on the heroes you have unlocked to fight by your side. Finally you have the Rage ability which you can charge up using your punch and then use for great results. This is an extremely simplified version of the controls though so expect a bit of a learning curve as you jump in. The game does a good job of being intuitive though so while it may be hard to explain it all in text, as you’re playing it will just make sense. Trust me on this, it’s a very smooth experience all around.

As you level up all of your stats improve so you really feel stronger each time. Mainly what will slow you down from beating it all in one shot is that you will run out of materials. Materials are used to strengthen your weapons and armor and the material you need changes every 10 levels. Additionally you need rank up materials as you approach the next 10. There are 9-10 different modes that you will be playing daily in order to grab materials but so you have to realize that this will be a gradual process. You won’t be getting everything at once, that’s just not happening. A lot of these are time gated as long as you’re a free to play user so keep that in mind.

That said, the game doesn’t feel very pay to win because you can eventually access all materials. You are given a good amount of currency each day so just spend it wisely. Additionally this is a game where most of the content is really PVE (Player vs Enemy) so it’s not like you’re watching other users beat you up all the time. There are two main PVP modes though in Arena and the Guild Wars. Note that you are fighting an A.I. in this case though so they aren’t live battles. Live battles would be cool but I’m glad that’s not the case here because I’ve experienced that in other games where the wait times get crazy. (Mega Man X Dive)

The Guild Wars can be rather unbalanced depending on your opponents. They need to work on the matchup criteria a little more. I’ve been in two Guild Wars so far. In the first we dominated 100% so we got every single reward (Which was awesome since I was a young player at the time and it gave me a huge boost in materials) but we got destroyed in the second one and couldn’t get almost any materials. So it can be hit or miss but at least you’re getting something either way right? The game can feel overwhelming at first with how much content there is but it’s ultimately a good thing because there is always something happening and there’s always a way to earn what you don’t yet have.

In terms of replay value it goes without saying that this game has a ton of it. With a main campaign well over 100 hours that’s a lot right there. Then the post game is guaranteed to take just as long I’d say. Put it this way, after completing the game I tried the first post game level and I lost in one hit to a normal minion. Needless to say the difficulty jump is quite extensive. Apparently the reason for this is that the post game came out like a year or two after the game’s ending so they were taking into account that people would have really upgraded their gear. There is something called “Mythic Gear” for example that is really strong but I’ve only obtained 1/9 of the gear so far so I have a ways to go.

Also in post game the enemies attack your health directly and that’s my weak point for now until I get some charms. Put it this way, my armor is at around 50000, but my health is at 10000. So you can take it down really quick when you’re skipping armor and that’s not something that level ups will help with much. So right now I am completely stuck with the post game and am just going to have to keep playing the side modes and leveling up my gear before I can get through. Once I have done that though, get ready! I’m going to be absolutely dominating, you can count on it. The max level in the game is 60 and at the time of writing this I am 48 so I’ve made good progress. Now again since this is based on the gear, just being level 60 doesn’t mean much as there will be 60s with much better gear than me.

For example I’m level 48 right now but most of my gear is around 41 and almost all of my heroes are level 20 or lower. So it takes a while to actually bump everything up, but I am getting up there. Slowly but surely is what I always say and you just gotta keep the grind up. As long as you complete the daily and weekly tasks each time you should really be good to go. Right now in my guild out of 17 people I’m the 14th strongest so I’d really like to boost that up but we’ll see. I’m pretty far at the moment.

Overall, Knighthood is a great game. The amount of content it has is just fantastic and that’s one of the positives of jumping into a game that has been going on for so long. Of course the only downside is you will be years behind the other players. For example I know I won’t be touching the upper echelon of players for at least a year or two because of how long the grind is. I don’t even know if I’ll still be playing the game that long. There are very few games that last that long, only Mega Man X Dive and Pokemon Go have pulled off such a feat and X Dive is nearly out of business based on the story ending so soon that’ll be gone too. In the meantime though I’m definitely having a fun time here and I would recommend this to players looking for a fairly unique mobile game. The rpg type combat here really is different from the average title and so it helps make the whole thing stand out.

Overall 8/10