It’s time to look at an old horror film about torture and violence. If this doesn’t already sound like a one way ticket to Amityville then brace yourself because we’re in for a very slippery film that just keeps on falling down the tunnel. It’s often hard to say when a film like this one first ends up falling as it couldn’t even start on a high note. What I will say is that the film certainly is impressive in how poorly written it was for the 60s. That era usually had quite solid writing.
The film starts with Robert getting a mysterious letter from an old friend. He was close to Maude for a time but then she ended up marrying a rich baron so Robert traveled overseas to get rich by being a doctor. Well, she wants him to come to her manor to chat about old times and if he doesn’t come then she will surely die. Robert hurries over and is so excited to see her again that he ignores the torture and murder happening within the building. Still, there won’t be anyone left to save him if he dawdles too long. Sardonicus will release him and Maude if Robert cures his face. If he does not, then he shall die. Can Robert do this?
Robert isn’t a very heroic character. He is proud of his Knightly ways and cannot bring himself to harm even a villain. That’s why even though a lot of terrible things are happening in the castle he cannot make a move. To do so would be impolite and as a gentleman he must be courteous at all times. Even when he gives his word to protect one of the servants from any future violence he leaves her alone with the villains multiple times as he heads off to enjoy a meal. It’s hard to root for Robert at all since he isn’t even smart. After reading the letter and everything mentioned above, he is swayed by the sob story of Sardonicus. Maude even tells him upfront after this that her life is at stake and Robert jokes that as a wife of course she is worried for Sardonicus. You’d have to have gotten hit in the head really hard right before saying that to really believe such a thing. Robert is just as dense as a brick. Lets also not forget that he won’t even use any of the risky treatments on Sardonicus because he worries for the villain’s safety. Even though such a decision would result in Maude’s death. This is our main character?
Naturally Sardonicus isn’t a good villain either. His sob story amounts to him trying to rob a grave and getting his face defiled for his efforts. Karma occurred very quickly and now he will take it out on everyone else. I can’t say that I feel bad for him and it just reminds you even more that he is a rather petty villain. His excuse for all of the inhumane experiments is to find a cure, but half of them had no actual correlation to his affliction and he later admits that he just does it as punishment. The guy can’t even decide on why he does what he does.
Then we have Maude who definitely isn’t the smartest of characters. Lets just think about this again. Sardonicus is all alone in the castle except for his one attendant Krull. Krull is often sent on faraway missions like heading to the city to recruit Robert. At that point Maude could have easily escaped. Sardonicus is often locked away in his room as well. Now perhaps her father is still a hostage but then that character would have to be so inept that I can’t even comprehend it. Furthermore the film doesn’t even try to make sense with this. Before I get into it I should mention that the same thing applies to Krull. The film tells us a few times that he is a very strong man who obeys Sardonicus absolutely. But why though? He is strong enough to destroy his master and live a very comfortable life. Especially since nobody actually sees Sardonicus anyway so he could just keep on using his money. Instead he let Sardonicus punish him a few times without actually trying to fight back.
All right, time for the real plot hole here. So, Sardonicus is feared by everyone on the island. It’s to the point where the men of the island allow their daughters to be sacrificed to him every year. Why not move away? Why not storm the building? Again, this could make sense if Sardonicus had a lot of people under his influence like in most similar films of this genre. Here he is just a single man with a single attendant. It would be a simple matter for a mob to enter and liberate anyone still alive. At the very least they could easily destroy him. Instead for whatever reason the police refuse to do anything and people don’t even move away. At most this could make sense if Sardonicus had some kind of political clout, but the sob story showed that he was just an ordinary guy who happened to win the lottery and got rich. That doesn’t give him any kind of diplomatic immunity. The film just couldn’t even think its own plot all the way through.
Overall, This was a pretty terrible film. It’s just gritty to be gritty and none of the characters can think for themselves. They just go along with whatever Sardonicus has planned and never stop to question why they are doing this. The plot’s flimsy and the characters aren’t good. The film feels like it lasts for an eternity before it’s over and the whole time you will just be wondering how this got past pre production. The narrator who appears at the beginning and end of the film is also a chore to get through. His jokes don’t land at all and he takes forever to get to the point. I would highly recommend staying away from this film.
Overall 0/10
It’s time to look at a really old alien film. This is the kind of flick that will remind you why aliens are so scary in the first place. They can’t be reasoned with and just want to take over every planet that gets in their way. You don’t want to mess with these guys and the humans have to desperately scramble to stop them. It’s an entertaining film that may not have the best lead, but still hits most of the right notes.
The film starts off with Russell sending another rocket into space. It’s been a futile mission as so far each missile has been sent right back down to Earth. At this point he is just wasting money and a general tells him this, but the lead refuses to listen. He will keep on sending the missiles into space and nobody can stop him! As he drives away with Carol, a UFO shows up which changes things a bit. They are now readying their invasion force to take over the Earth. Russell will have to build a super laser to shut them down, but can he really invent such a thing or is he already doomed?
As you can tell I thought Russell was rather slow on the uptake. If a bunch of missiles keep losing contact as soon as they are sent out, why would you send more without actually fixing anything about them? The main characters finally decide to add a camera to the last one so they can find out what is happening, but shouldn’t a camera have been there right from the start? It seems to me that for a mission of such importance you would want to document everything at all times.
Russell’s big slip up was in meeting up with the aliens privately. Carol and the army guy do manage to catch him so they all end up being threatened by the aliens as a team. I’ll give the army guy some credit for actually firing at the aliens while in the ship. They might as well go down swinging right? Russell is the one who puts the group in danger constantly. For example, he knew that a little energy orb had been spying on him for the last few weeks and that random lights would show up in the sky, but he thought nothing of them. It seems like nothing would cause him to show even a little bit of the usual alarm that you would expect from a reasonable main character. He may get to run the victory lap at the end, but he certainly put the Earth in quite the predicament.
Meanwhile I can’t say that I was a big fan of Carol. Mainly because she was quick to rat out Russell when he was trying to escape the base. Whether she agreed with him or not, such a call would probably have him arrested and it’s not like she had a better idea. When you make a call to betray someone like that, it’s a big decision. The characters forget about this pretty quick, but that could have been a very damaging moment for them.
I do have to give the army some props for shooting the aliens right away. Obviously that isn’t usually a good idea since the aliens hadn’t actually done anything yet, but we weren’t going to be pushed around this time. Usually when the army shoots first it turns out that the aliens were actually good guys so this was a good way of flipping that around real quick. Too bad their tech was so much better than ours as otherwise it could have been a pretty even fight. We didn’t hesitate to fire off our rockets and heavy armaments either so the world was ready.
There is some plot hax in the climax though. As I mentioned the aliens do have the superior tech here including ships that can run rings around ours. Their speed is so great that they can appear from nowhere to disintegrate us and then vanish again. How is it that they didn’t notice the humans plotting against them? At the very least you would expect them to have the main characters under surveillance until the invention was built. Leaving the humans alone (Even after they broke the alien spy probe) was just not a smart idea. Even once they knew that the humans were turning violent they sent in one robot instead of blasting the place to smithereens. The humans got lucky and they know it.
We do get some decent action sequences at the end though as we shoot down all of their UFOs. You’ll end up feeling bad for the landmarks though as the aliens make sure to crash into them every time one ship is shot down. By the end of the fight I feel like the city will look a whole lot different. I suppose some damage is expected when saving the world though. I also like to think that the aliens made sure to intentionally hit these spots just to at least get a little petty consolation victory. If only they had just tried destroying us all when they had the chance!
Overall, This was a fun movie. It’s a classic Alien Invasion story filled with suspense and action. The writing for the movie is certainly on point even if the main characters are annoying. The characters you will be rooting for the most will be the government agents. They don’t plan to go down without a fight and talk tough whenever they are on screen. That’s exactly what I like to see and even the Aliens admitted that in a battle for the Earth we would keep fighting til the last man. Humanity got its props here.
Overall 7/10
All right, it’s time to head back into the world of RWBY as I look at the top 10 characters in the series. There are a lot of quality characters and I’m sure that the list will continue to change and evolve as more volumes come out. 5 volumes is a good amount of content to make such a list though so here is how it is right now.
1. Mercury
I liked this character as soon as he showed up. His hairstyle and personality is very similar to Sasuke from Naruto. At this point we had already had quite a few villains, but none with the smug and confident nature of Mercury. His fight with Yang also showed just how skilled he was and solidified him as a true threat to any hunter or huntress. Unfortunately he hasn’t gotten a whole lot to do as of late but he is a villain that just hits all of the right notes. At most he just doesn’t make for a very convincing hero but that is probably low on his list of priorities.
2. Adam
This guy was pretty cool as soon as he showed up in the Black trailer. He was an experienced veteran whose abilities were even higher than those of the main characters. He’s also a villain who is fighting for a good cause. It doesn’t justify his actions but at least I can understand his motivation and why he feels like he had to succeed. Volume 5 didn’t really seem to understand this all that well as Blake became more of a priority for him. Still, at his core he is just a man trying to fight for equality by destroying everyone who stands in his way. Taking down Yang in a single hit was an insane feat and he is a character who just seems untouchable. Next to the 4 Maidens he is very likely the strongest character in the series. He is definitely a divisive one in the series but I dare say that he might have the strongest drive. Whenever he shows up you know that it’s bad news for the heroes.
3. Yang
At 3rd we have the best hero, Yang. As early as the Yellow trailer is was clear that she was going to be the best of the main 4. She is very confident and always eager for a fight. Her hand to hand combat skills is a nice way to make her unique from the others. Yang did lose her fighting spirit for a while during volume 4 which threatened to hurt the character a bit but she recovered for volume 5 and quickly got back to acting like her usual self. It is a shame that she lost her arm as the robotic one just isn’t as fun but I am eager to see Yang get a proper rematch with Mercury. She didn’t seem to be doing too well in the recent bout but it was hardly a fair 1 vs 1 fight.
4. Raven
Out of all the characters in the series Raven likely has the best debut of them all. Saving Yang just in the nick of time from Neo was pretty hype. Still, it wasn’t until volume 5 that Raven really came into her own as a great character. We got to see her as a master strategist and as a wild card who was dangerous to both sides. Obtaining the Maiden’s power and then keeping it quiet was genius. Honestly her plan would have been flawless if she has attacked Cinder right away in the vault as she would have gotten away with Vernal scot free. I am looking forward to what I feel is an inevitable confrontation with Salem although admittedly her odds don’t look great for winning such a fight. Raven has a lot of experience with her abilities though so if any maiden can beat her it would be Raven.
5. Torchwick
Torchwick isn’t one of the strongest villains at this point as he has long since been surpassed but his charisma is certainly one of a kind. He delivers a lot of clever dialogue whenever he is on screen and the fact that he can fight so well without aura is also really impressive. He was able to defeat Blake and Ruby while also proving to be an even match for Sun. It’s a shame that he didn’t stick around a little longer because maybe he could still hold his own with some of the heavy hitters. RWBY originally started out with a lot of humor to complement the action and Torchwick is a large part of why it worked so well.
6. Cinder
Cinder has really been the main villain of the RWBY series. Until volume 3 she seemed to be the leader of the villains. While we eventually found out that she had a leader, it didn’t change the fact that Cinder got the most screen time. As with Yang she took volume 4 to recover and came back better than ever in volume 5. Her vendetta against Cinder has caused her to be a little more aggressive and unhinged as of late but having half of your face burned off will do that. Cinder is probably the smartest character in the series and even before her Maiden abilities she was a considerable threat. Her presence will be missed in the future but at the same time I do think that her character arc had a perfect ending. Naturally if they decide to bring her back which is fairly likely I would have no qualms with that.
7. Neo
Neo is a relatively minor villain who instantly became a fan favorite during her fight with Yang. Her character is pretty unique as she can’t speak so her fighting style and facial expressions have to be used to decipher her character. She goes into action only on special occasions when she is trying to prevent the heroes from reaching an objective. Given how she effortlessly defeated Yang it’s clear that her abilities are at a very high level. As she is still alive I am hoping that she finally gets a big fight in volume 6.
8. Qrow
Qrow is definitely a fun character to have around who is a big contrast to the rest of the heroes. He is often very sarcastic to everyone and openly critical of any hero who isn’t Ozpin. There was a time where he was my favorite RWBY character but the days of him being a great solo act appear to be over. He’s turned into a bit of a yes man for Oz and has also been severely nerfed in the process. Nevertheless I won’t forget his great volume 3 debut where he fought Winter. Seeing a competent huntsman is also nice since half the time you wonder how useful the grownups really are.
9. Pyrrha
Pyrrha is a genius fighter and a true prodigy. Despite this, she surprisingly wasn’t cocky or super aggressive the way you would expect her to be. Instead she is one of the nicest characters in the series and has a great character arc. Pyrrha is definitely the most interesting character of team JNPR and made their plot a lot more interesting. While her odds of returning to the main cast get slimmer with every season, there is certainly always the chance that she will return. Her magnetic abilities served her well and I believe she would still be a threat to many of the current villains. Her abilities were ahead of their time.
10. Weiss
Finally we have Weiss. She started out as a very antagonistic character who was really critical of Ruby but gradually became one of her most loyal supporters. She’s had a lot of character development throughout the series and may be the most mature member of the group at this point. Even when she was out of practice Weiss was able to put up a bit of a fight against Vernal. Honestly I think she should have been able to win that fight but depending on what metrics you look at it may have been over 6 months since she had last fought a real opponent and Weiss had no time to train during that gap either. That really didn’t put her in top form for the fight. With her special rapier, Weiss always has the potential to become the strongest member of Team RWBY.
So that’s my list of the Top 10 RWBY characters. There are quite a lot of villains on that list but the balance between light and dark isn’t too skewed. (6-4 is pretty equal) The series does a great job of developing both sides and many characters in this list aren’t separated by all that much which is why the placements in the list tend to swap a lot. For example the gap between 4 and 7 is very small and that’s a big chunk of the list. At least now when someone asks who my favorite RWBY hero and villain is I will be able to quickly respond or take a peak at this list.
It’s time to look at the next Sherlock Holmes case! This is definitely one of the better ones as we see Holmes match wits against a new adversary. Interestingly enough, he knows who the culprit is right away so the main objective in the film is gathering evidence. Whether you would consider this as more of a thriller than a mystery or not will be up to you. Nonetheless, I’m always up for seeing a villain walk right up to Holmes to make threats and that ended up being pretty entertaining.
The film starts with Holmes deciding to retire from the criminal business. He has been having headaches as of late and so he won’t be of much use to the Police. Watson protests this, but then Holmes accidentally murders himself by falling into the water. Watson mourns, but then Holmes shows up and lets Watson know that it was all part of the plan. Watson isn’t thrilled about being used like this, but he has no time to pout since the Pajama murders are still going strong. Holmes figures that the best way to get in contact with the murderer is to go undercover as someone who is down on his luck. He will have to be careful not to go too far into this disguise though or it could cost him his life!
The villainous Adrea makes for a fun villain with over confidence and smug personality throughout the film. Saving people from despair only to murder them after they get life insurance is certainly a clever play. She also isn’t afraid of anyone and that includes Sherlock Holmes. She sees through disguise pretty quick. It’s not even that it was a bad disguise but she is naturally wary of anyone who shows up and does what she can to prove whether the person is legit or not.
What really legitimized Adrea as a big threat was when she went to Sherlock Holmes’ office to file a missing report for the guy Holmes was pretending to be. It was a nice, subtle way to threaten him while Holmes fired back. Watson doesn’t seem to pick up on any of this, but he was busy reading so I guess it is to be expected. Adrea certainly wins this round as she gets her nephew to throw a poison wrapper into the fireplace which nearly finishes off Holmes and Watson. Admittedly I was a little surprised that Holmes didn’t see this coming. After all, a villain wouldn’t just go to his base to gloat right? Well, some might I suppose but with how suspicious the kid was I was certainly expecting something to happen. This just goes to show how important it is not to litter as getting the kid to throw the wrapper in the trash would have prevented this from occurring.
Even at the end she managed to outwit Holmes as she pretended to leave an opening which allows Holmes to follow her into a trap. He tries to save face by pointing out that if he didn’t take the bait she would have gotten away, but it just shows that she got him into an impossible situation. It’s only luck that allows Holmes to ultimately keep his life. Adrea was definitely the standout character here and while Holmes is still my favorite, she gives Moriarty some competition as far as the villains are concerned.
Holmes is still a fun lead as always. Once again he does appear to be on the losing side when it comes to fighting another genius. Perhaps even though Holmes is the most intelligent hero he still isn’t quite as smart as the villains. Granted, villains always have the edge in these battles since they get to make a move whenever they want while the heroes end up playing catch up at first. Holmes deciding to have a sudden retirement would have hurt his character but as long as it was just a ruse then it’s okay. I doubt he could resist the allure of a good mystery for very long.
Watson is a mixed bag as you would expect. He has some nice moments like when he gets some clever burns in or when he believes that a man is actually Sherlock Holmes. On the other hand, he is still a little too weak and bad at his job considering how long he has been with Holmes. Allowing the villain to knock the gun out of his hand was quite unfortunate since the heroes really had the upper hand there. I just don’t see how you can lose your gun so easily.
As a minor villain I also liked the fake Spider expert. He did a good job of pretending to be the genuine article and at least he had a gun at the ready. The little slip ups that he made while talking were fairly small ones so at least it wasn’t something that you could really blame him for. He got his revenge for losing to Holmes later on as well so this wasn’t your average 2 bit criminal. The rest of the usual supporting characters like Lestrade were around as well and looked about as good as you would expect. He’s always a fun guy to have tagging along.
Overall, This was definitely a fun Holmes adventure. I want to say that it’s Top 3 for sure. Once I finish the 14 films in the series perhaps I will do some kind of official rankings for all of them. Nonetheless, this is definitely a film that you will want to check if you are a Holmes fan or just like a good film with a lot of suspense. The writing is on point as always and the pacing is really good. The film is very short, but still manages to give a good amount of development to all of the characters involved. It doesn’t feel rushed which is important. It’s going to be tough for the next film to beat this one.
Overall 8/10
Stats time!
Level 1 2/3 Stars
Level 2 1/3 Stars
Level 3 1/3 Stars
Level 4 1/3 Stars
Level 5 1/3 Stars
Level 6 1/3 Stars
After a lot of procrastinating I finally got around to playing the new Domino’s game. After all if it’s something that will help you earn Pizza points how could I refuse? It’s definitely got a little effort put into it but I wouldn’t say that the game is all that amusing. I don’t see myself ever replaying it after all. Still, if you’re looking for a motion game where you have to move carefully through the obstacles then this will be right up your alley.
There are 6 levels here and each one is a little different. For example one of them plays out like a Monkey Ball level as you try to avoid the holes in the ground and roll to the goal. It’s probably the most well thought out level. I’ve always liked that game series as it can get quite difficult but never unfair. Some points in this level are incredibly difficult but fortunately there are constant checkpoints so you never have to go too far back. That’s something that I definitely appreciated from the game. Without the checkpoint I’m sure that the game wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable.
Another level has you controlling a balloon as you glide from place to place. It’s a pretty interesting concept as you use the fans to keep it on course. It seems difficult to win this level without dying though as the balloon has a tendency to get into bad angles but fortunately the checkpoint fixes that.
Next to we have a level where you manipulate really small balls to try and go down the tunnel. You have to get 10 balls into the correct hole in multiple phases. It’s a pretty fun level although it’s also rather easy as you appear to have an infinite amount of balls. The level is less interesting than the last 2.
The most bland level in the game is probably one where you have to roll sideways from platform to platform. You’ll certainly get there eventually, you just gotta keep going. There’s also a 3D roller where you move from side to side. It’s pretty similar to the Monkey Ball level but with less control so it’s not quite as good. Still not a bad level though.
As far as the graphics go the game looks okay. It’s like what you would expect from a tech demo or something. The colors are clear and everything looks as it should but the actual objects are super basic. Nothing wrong with that but of course it does make it fairly easy for the graphics to look good so don’t go thinking that it’s because this is a AAA game or anything.
There isn’t really a soundtrack here. There is one static theme that keeps showing up a lot but that’s about it. It’s fairly calm and peaceful though so it fit the levels well. Let’s talk about the real trouble here though. There is basically no replay value to be found here. That’s because the 6 levels is all the content in the game. You can’t earn any extra rewards either so the only possible reason to play the games again is to increase your star rank. I don’t know about you but I don’t think that is a good enough incentive to keep me playing. The game is free so it’s not like you lose any money but make no mistake, you’ll only be playing around for about 10 minutes and then after that the game will be over.
Overall, It’s cool that Domino’s made their own game. All things considered I think that they put a decent amount of effort into it. As most people will be playing it for the coupon I’m glad that it doesn’t take too much effort to get it. It’s not a game that I expect I will ever play again but I’d recommend downloading it. Pizza doesn’t get much better than Domino’s so this coupon is definitely pretty handy.
Overall 5/10
