Category Archives: Reviews

Commando 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 would be more negative

Commando is one of those classic thrillers where the main character takes names and blasts everybody. It’s not trying to really be much more than that and yet everything is executed at a consistently high level. The plot is also very different from what you would expect going in and it really nailed this subversion. Seriously the main character actually did feel like a top tier pro and handled things the right way. This is absolutely the guy you want covering your back when the going gets tough.

The movie starts off with a string of murders and it turns out that they were all ex teammates of Matrix. Matrix has retired a while back and is trying to live a normal life taking care of his daughter. So he doesn’t want to get back into the game but the option is taken out of his hands when his home is attacked. He fights off most of the invaders but they still kidnap his daughter so Matrix is told he will have to go murder the president of a different country to get his daughter back. Matrix agrees and comes up with a clever plan. Basically the villains have 3 different cushions here to prevent betrayal. They have two guys walking with Matrix to the airport. One will ride in the plane with him while a second watches the plane take off. If the boss doesn’t hear from both of them then the daughter dies. So Matrix waits until the plane takes off and murders the guy in the plane, then he jumps off. He now has until the plane lands to rescue his daughter.

I love this for a bunch of reasons. The first is that there really isn’t much point in completing the mission because it’s clear that his daughter would be murdered regardless. These villains aren’t the kind that have any kind of honor code and so their word is completely worthless. The toughest part of course is figuring out a way around this setup which actually isn’t easy. I’ll give the villains a lot of credit there, it’s a fairly foolproof plan that would have succeeded if not for a good degree of luck on Matrix’s side. If the second villain had stayed watching the plane for another minute then this plan wouldn’t have worked. Additionally it counts on murdering the first thug without anyone noticing.

The second reason I like this mission is it’s a very clever way of having a thriller movie with a very strict time limit right from the start. It adds a little extra tension without a doubt and in general makes the film a bit more serious. I still wouldn’t call it dark or anything but it adds an edge where otherwise you’d just be grinning the whole time. Both sides know that the villains are not bluffing about bumping off his daughter after all so Matrix is really against the clock here.

Now granted, I do think Matrix’s plan was a bit roundabout. For example when he assumes control of a girl’s car and tells her to follow one of the villains…why not take that villain out earlier? Just beat him up and I’m positive he would give away the location of his boss or the meeting place real quick. That villain seemed as whiny as they come and would have generally low resistance to any kind of threats that Matrix would make. I feel like there just wasn’t a great reason for all of this running around with the guy especially since it ended up leading to a whole lot of wasted time that he would have liked to have in the end.

Matrix is still a great character though. I can’t demand perfection at every turn after all since he’s in a super stressful situation where things keep on changing. He takes a lot of opponents down and proves himself to be an excellent fighter both in hand to hand combat and with a firearm. The way he handled the first villain sitting on a chair who was trying to set up the blackmailing arrangement was great. “That’s how the situation is right?” “Wrong!” That’s not the exact wording but yeah it was great. The only main mistake I’d say was when Matrix got the civilian Cindy involved.

I didn’t think that whole part was necessary. The plan he gave her to basically seduce one of the villains to stall for time wasn’t a good one and it goes back to my earlier point how this roundabout strategy actually just wasted a lot of time. You can even see why Cindy sold him out because Matrix did seem like a villain from her POV. She just ended up being annoying because then she was quickly switching sides later on and hiding the facts. In general I didn’t like her but I will acknowledge that Matrix messed up during that whole bit.

As one of the main villains Bennett makes for an imposing guy. The cracks in his confidence show early but what I like is that he is at least on Matrix’s level. The guy can fight and actually fight rather well. He’s not like one of those villains who’s all bluster and no action. So I give him credit there and the personal connection between them made the animosity even more intense. I’ll take him over Arius as the more interesting villain any day. I’ll actually remember this guy after all.

The whole climax is a lot of fun as Matrix goes in blasting and really takes a lot of names. Of course there is definitely a whole lot of plot armor here, perhaps even more than you would be expecting. That said, it’s still just a lot of fun seeing him take out the equivalent of a whole army. He’s not taking any prisoners here which makes a whole lot of sense both based on his occupation and of course the stakes of trying to save his daughter. There’s no time to hold back and if anything it would probably place his own life in jeopardy if he was to try.

There was also a really good song that played near the end of the film. I’ll need to try and find it at some point because it really fit in well with the scene and was a very solid action film. I felt like the film really went in hard on all the technical aspects. The writing was great with a lot of really witty one liners as well. The pacing was on point and the character cast was solid. There’s a lot of replay value here and it’s the kind of film you could easily watch multiple times just because of the sheer fun factor here. The film’s a bit cheesy and heavy handed but completely embraces this and just makes effective use of that tone.

Overall, Commando is a pretty fun action film that you could really watch many times. It’s just over the top enough to be super entertaining without going too far and just being like a parody. I definitely didn’t have any big complaints with it. It’s really one of those films where you can feel its age but in a good way. The music is really on point here, the fights have a lot of hype and the writing is really smart. It may be a film that in some ways doesn’t stand out as being some kind of unforgettable experience but at the same time you’ll be grinning the whole time. Just when you think you’ve seen most of the films like this one, now you’ve got another title to keep you busy. If you want a thriller that balances the serious tone with some light hearted moments then this is the one for you.

Overall 8/10

Final Fantasy III Review

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It’s been a very long time since I completed Final Fantasy II. Finally it was time to get back in there for the third game. This one changes some things up with the mechanics and it’s pretty interesting how each of the first 3 games have had something experimental going on. I wonder if that will keep going with each title or if it’ll eventually settle into what I consider to be the classic RPG type.

The story starts with a vague message about light and darkness as we then cut to the main characters who are about to be tasked with saving the world. We’ve got a fairly varied crew here with a princess who is being a bit of a rebel, a classic hero type, a body guard, and other colorful characters. They have to bring the light back to the world and it turns out there are two worlds around as well. As you go to each land you learn more about the people and the troubles befalling them. The game’s early enough where I wouldn’t say the story is particularly deep but it is definitely there throughout compared to the first two games where often times there wasn’t really much dialogue happening at all.

Additionally a big change is that the main character himself can actually talk here. Trust me that’s a big change from the first two games where he was completely silent. I wouldn’t say that any of the characters particularly stand out though so that will be a job for the 4th game or maybe the installments after that. For now that just hasn’t happened yet and I would say the same is true of the villains. So that’s also part of why you won’t remember the story too clearly by the end either. You’re really here for the gameplay more than anything else so lets jump into that.

This game uses a classic level up system. You fight enemies in turn based combat and get stronger. One big change though is instead of an MP system you have magic divided into levels and none are learned as you level up. You have to buy each spell and then equip into the level slots for each character. Whether the character can actually use the spell will ultimately come down to which class you have equipped. Some classes simply can’t learn any spells and others can learn some but not others.

Aside from leveling up your own level you also level up the class that you have equipped as you go through the game. Everyone starts off with a standard class and then as the game goes on you can go into other ones. Ultimately I would say to leave Standard as soon as possible since it won’t help at all in the end. Also the reason you want to switch sooner than later is each class starts back at level 1 which lowers your attack power by a whole lot. For example if you’re level 70 but with a level 1 class then you’ll be hitting so weak that you may get folded by a level 40 opponent. Your equipment still comes into play as well but it can be tough enough to find strong weapons as it is.

I changed my class several times during the game which isn’t optimal so find your favorite one soon. I recommend one top tier healer class, 2 attacking ones, and then a dark mage. With that squad you will be well equipped to take on just about every challenge. I’m not going to say it is literally unbeatable or anything like that but it will be a very strong squad that is hard to stop. I was finally able to beat the game after getting everyone to level 75 and it still wasn’t what I would call easy so keep that in mind.

The final level is a boss rush of around 10 bosses which is really hard to deal with. You do get healed after 5 of those fights at least so you should plan them out well. In general this is one of my issues with the game though which is that you can only save outside of a dungeon. Some of these dungeons are fairly long so going all the way through one and then dying is rough. I lost to the final boss several times and it would always take around an hour to get back to where I was. It did help inflate the play time to over 40 hours but I think the game could have been a little more user friendly in that respect.

Meanwhile I also think the equipment could be a little less fussy. When you change classes all of your equipment is taken off because different classes accept different things. So often times you would have to go find a shop to get some equipment but most of the time the shop wouldn’t have all of the options. This then takes you back to square 1 which isn’t easy. Mix that in with a lack of a good map and that could make things tricky as well. Some of these issues really just come down to the game’s age but others are just game design choices that I would say did not work particularly well.

The graphics look pretty solid though and the soundtrack is on point. I would say the technical aspects are on point and of course I really can’t complain about the length. Being over 40 hours is really fantastic so I can’t possibly fault that. I don’t think you’re going to get much better than that in any RPG when going through the story since that’s not even counting the post game. There’s definitely a lot to do here so you’re getting a ton of bang for your buck. While it will take you a while to beat the game, there is always a lot of hope due to the nature of a level up system like this. For example if I had still been stuck I could have tried switching classes again, hard grinding to level 80, etc.

Now there is one huge pro tip I would mention now since I didn’t learn about this until the final boss. You can use any kind of spell on all allies at once by pressing the right arrow on your D Pad. Why? Who knows, but it’s a really good hidden feature. I started using the heal on everyone at once which was a massive game changer. I can tell you now that I would not have been able to defeat the final boss without that. Honestly I wonder if I could have beaten him at a lower level if I’d known about it sooner. So yeah this is a tip I recommend you really take to heart.

Overall, Final Fantasy III is a pretty fun game. The gameplay is fun and the overall experience is solid. I had some problems with a few of the gameplay mechanics here and there but in the end you’ll spend dozens of hours here and will be glad that you did. Final Fantasy is always the first title you think of when discussing long RPGs and the length here certainly lives up to it. You have to put in a lot of work to get to the end of the game but it’s all worth it and you will feel a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment.

Overall 7/10

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Review

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It’s time to take a look at one of the meanest spirited films you’ll see in a minute. I remember reading on Reddit how you can measure how mean/good spirited a film is based on the percentage of characters who end the film better or worse off than how they were when starting it. In this film all of the characters end off worse than they began so that is a pretty good indicator all around. Trust me you’ll want to skip this one and go take a walk instead.

The movie begins by introducing us to the main character John who is mute which is definitely not an easy condition to live with. Still he has done all right for himself and he is even trying to help out his friend who is mentally disabled and having a much tougher time of things. John even moves to a new town in order to stay close to the hospital where his friend will be observed and so he moves into a house with a family that’s going through some tough times of their own. Will he be able to solve all of their problems and get a nice existence for himself or is it all over for him?

One thing you will notice right away is that the film loves throwing in a lot of unnecessary subplots just to make John squirm a bit. For example it turns out that the town’s police force is corrupt and racist so they decide to violate human rights and basically do whatever they want inside the station. There’s really nothing that can even be done about it by the main characters. One doctor tries to protest and that doesn’t end up working. So ultimately this results in one of John’s friends losing his leg, the doctor having to be miserable for a decent portion of his last days, and his daughter hating him for a long while.

That didn’t go very well for John but there are other people for him to save right? Well you have the family he’s living with but the father is crippled and unable to get more work. Unfortunately there don’t appear to be any prospects there so things don’t work out. Then you have the mother who completely destroys her relationship with their daughter by not encouraging her in the school ventures and limiting her opportunities. The daughter ends up having a one night stand with someone she doesn’t even know just to spite her family and the situation that she’s in. It’s something you can’t really take back either so John wasn’t able to help these folks out. The film also makes it abundantly clear just how young she was here to add that extra edge and grit to the film to sink it even lower.

Things take a pretty dark turn for the friend that he came over here to help so that was pretty rough too. A new friend he made over in this town had started to turn things around but it all ended up going sideways on him after trying to stop a fight so he had to split town. Basically everything went wrong in the end and so John ended up losing all hope which ends with his plot going down a dark path as well. Basically the body count in this film is rather high all things considered and it’s a drama that doesn’t leave any room for hope in the end.

Part of why the film’s so bad is because there’s just nothing positive about it in the end. Each character just kept going through tragedy after tragedy until the film finally ended with every character being completely broken inside and out. I was even surprised about the final person who died because I was sure it was going to be a fake out. The film wouldn’t actually go there would it? Well, in the end it did and that was definitely not a good idea. The film would have still been really bad, don’t get me wrong. But it could have maybe at least avoided the flat 0 with a quality ending to leave things off on a good note. The film was just too determined to have the characters in a never ending cycle of suffering. Whenever you’d have a moment where something bad wasn’t happening, you just knew this meant the film was setting up the next tragedy.

At best the film does show you how tough some people have it in life and why you should always give others the benefit of the doubt. It’s why they say not to judge someone on your first encounter since they could be having a bad day or something like that. You just never know after all, these characters all would have been having some really bad days that’s for sure. From the 5 senses, losing my sight would probably be the scariest. It’s just tough not to be able to see anything but all 5 are known as critical parts of you for a reason. Losing any one of them immediately makes life a lot harder so I have a lot of respect for those who forge their paths ahead despite that. It’s also why a happier ending here would have also been a lot more satisfying.

Overall, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a movie definitely trying to convince you that at the end of the day you will not be able to help enough people. There will always be more problems and they will eventually consume you. It’s definitely a very sad way to look at things. Of course it is not possible to solve all problems which is why they say it’s best not to look at the news too much so you don’t get tragedy fatigue. Just solve the problems you can and keep moving forward. One first step to doing this is to completely skip this film. At all costs you do not want to check it out. Whether it’s the big tragedies that happen in the film or the little ones like spoiling a party and losing all of your friends in one shot, this movie loves to pile onto the main characters.

Overall 0/10

The Concorde … Airport ’79 Review

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It’s time for the last of the Airport movies! Honestly it’s really not bad but I can see why it’s considered to be the weakest one. Not only did the film allow its name to be changed to Airport ’80 when it was aired abroad but I don’t think it takes itself as seriously as the first three. Not to say that it’s a full comedy or anything but there are scenes that don’t benefit the plot in any way like the affair with the reporter and it actually gets a little repetitive with the plane being attacked. Some good ideas here but the execution was not on point.

The film starts off with a huge conspiracy as a group of villains led by Kevin want to destroy an airplane. No it’s not because he got left at home all alone but for monetary reasons. Reporter Maggie finds out a scoop about his shady dealings…well find is a strong word. A guy literally ran into her house to let her know before he was shot dead. Kevin sweet talks her out of saying anything so he can give her his side of the story. Once she goes on the plane he decides to blow it up. What he didn’t count on was Patroni being the pilot this time. This airplane is supersonic and Patroni has supersonic piloting skills so when you put the two of them together like that good things are sure to follow. Kevin knows that if Maggie lands safely it is all over, can his missiles really bring down the plane??

Okay so first lets go with the positives here. I would say the film is about even with positives and negatives though so the sections are similar. I do like how we get two climaxes of sorts. Now granted, the second one feels a bit repetitive so I would have liked them to shake it up a little bit. I appreciate them trying to get a lot of action in there but you could change it up a bit. Also having a plane dodge missiles was a good way to show how this was a supersonic plane and not nearly as slow or weak as the usual ones. We got to see exactly what Patroni could do in combat and it was very impressive.

In general Patroni is a big positive here. You may be wondering a bit how he became such a hotshot pilot to the point where he is pulling all of this off. I guess his days of being a mechanic and then the back-end CEO are over. Now he’s a fighter pilot but that helps add to the fun of it all so I’m cool with it. He’s easily the best character in the movie and you want to give your star as much screentime as possible. Trust me that is always the best advice you could give a film.

On the flip side, we do have a very pointless romance here. There’s an athlete trying to win at the Olympics and so a reporter has a quick affair with her. The whole scene in the hot springs is definitely absurd. Cmon now she’s trying to get ready for an event coming up and apparently hasn’t seen this reporter in a while. They’re going to get that “friendly” that quickly? Noooo the scene was completely pointless and even by the end there’s just not much here. I guess it was just to give the passengers more to do but I would have cut that part out.

In general this also might be the weakest group of passengers that we’ve gotten. None of them are particularly likable or that memorable. You have the guy with his kid trying to have fun on the plane but they have no character. There’s the old lady always running to the bathroom and then you’ve got the rest of the crew basically just hanging out. At least in the film with the saboteurs we had traitors on board and a fairly intense pilot. There was a lot more happening there. This plane may be filled to the limit but it sure felt empty at times.

Now the conspiracy plot was fun but there are a lot of plot holes here. The obvious one of course is that this guy is rich enough with a ton of resources to have hired gunmen try to murder the reporter initially but then…he does nothing? Sure sending the rockets at the plane is all good but he should have just sent another gunman to her home or had someone snipe her on the way to the airport. He was way too complacent the whole time which really held him back. Also when she landed of course he should have had a backup plan to take her out instead of waiting to get the plane again.

She made it clear several times that she was going to destroy him and the company with the truth of his evil deeds so he had all day to do something about it. Now I don’t want to undersell his efforts. Of course he did plant bombs and use missiles of course which reasonably should have worked rather well but ultimately he just didn’t do a whole lot considering the high stakes of what it would meant if he let her loose. I also think Maggie was super lucky the whole time because technically she handled this poorly.

She committed all of the “don’ts” of being a reporter. She let the villain know that she was the only one who knew the truth and even gave him an exact timetable of when she would tell the world. Right up to the end with the TV crew she keeps mentioning that she’s going to break a story but not what the story actually was. So that still gave him even more time to finish her off. When you know a dark truth about someone who is a confirmed mass murderer then you need to keep things close to the vest. Seriously that’s an absolute necessity in this kind of thing.

So I would say there are some issues with that plot but the thing is, it’s still the best plot in the film. I wish they would have doubled down on that a bit. Imagine a whole chase scene in the airport like Mission Impossible? That would have been great and what would have made it double effective is how it would have the title actually be representative of the film for once. The action would actually be happening at the airport. I know that may sound crazy since you’re used to these films not having much to do with it but that’s why it would work.

Overall, Airport 4 is okay at best. It squanders the most interesting plot involving the conspiracy and I would argue it doesn’t make a lot of sense in general. I liked the attempts to make things more explosive and there was some promise with Patroni but ultimately this film just couldn’t execute at the level that it needed to. I would suggest watching the earlier films instead of this one. You should be reasonably entertained while watching this one but there just really isn’t much of a reason to do so. In a lot of ways the film is mainly going through the motions as opposed to doing something all that unique and so it doesn’t stand out.

Overall 5/10

The Land Before Time Review

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Time for a fairly old film that most people have heard of. The Land Before Time was a really big deal back in the day and I’d say it’s definitely had a lasting effect on the world. People still haven’t forgotten the films after all. This one works pretty well to kick things off and you’ll have a wholesome time with the dinosaurs. One of them is definitely pretty annoying for most of the experience but there is a character arc involved.

The film starts off by showing us the world of the dinosaurs and how each species mostly keeps to themselves. Littlefoot doesn’t understand this since he wants to be friends with everyone but the grownups are adamant that the dinos keep to themselves. Well eventually a giant earthquake happens which splits all of the dinosaurs up. Littlefoot must now go on a great adventure to get back to his tribe but it will be a long journey. Fortunately he meets up with a few other kids along the way. Together they can show the world that dinosaurs of different species can get along!

I’d say one of the more emotional moments here is definitely when Littlefoot’s mother passes away. It’s pretty much a rite of passage in every animated film involving an animal that the parent dies early on and Littlefoot was not spared this tragedy. He still tries to put his best foot forward at all times which is admirable though. Throughout the movie I would say he is consistently the best character. Even when the other dinosaurs are being jerks or traitors he will do his best to save them. A key moment in this is when they all ditch him for Cera despite the latter not being dependable or a team player at any point. Littlefoot could have just took off and forgotten about the lot of them but he still ventures into the magma zone to save them all.

Littlefoot can definitely end up being the chief of the dinosaurs at some point with his courage and dedication. On the other hand Cera spends most of the film trying to prove herself to be a tough dinosaur while often having the opposite effect of that. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to present yourself as a tough fighter. It’s good to have courage and determination but at the same time she needs to realize her limits a bit sooner. I expected Cera to learn how to be humble a lot sooner than when it actually happened.

It’s really over 90% of the movie where she is doing her own thing and getting everyone into trouble. The worst of it has to be towards the magma zone when she decides to ditch Littlefoot and the others all follow her. Of course that translates really badly on them as well though. Seriously throughout the film Cera never lifted a foot to help any of them and that’s true here as well. Two of them get separated and Cera doesn’t care. One of them falls into the ocean and is about to drown and Cera doesn’t even notice. Yeah I’m going to need Cera to work really hard to be a likable character in the sequel because right now things are not going well for her at all.

Ducky is a nice character, she’s very outgoing and always doing her best. So in a lot of ways she has all of the right traits here but I do deduct some points for her going with Cera instead of Littlefoot. It’s the only error she made but it was a pretty big one. When all of your screentime is so positive though it’s hard for one moment to stop you so I still give her a lot of credit. Meanwhile Petrie also made that error but was decent otherwise. A little timid since he had a lot of trouble flying at first but gradually he is able to get past that. I suppose I’ll cut him a little slack since he was so young as they’re all kids here.

As a villain Sharptooth works pretty well. There is a bit of plot armor on the heroes to deal with him since a grown T Rex isn’t about to be stopped by a bunch of kids so easily. You almost feel bad for him in the sense that it’s more instinct to go after the prey rather than him being evil or anything like that. Of course you want the heroes to get away but you still hope Sharptooth will be okay as opposed to getting taken down by the kids. They can’t all be winners in the end but at least a truce can happen in some films. I can tell you right now that this doesn’t happen.

I was half expecting a little more of a reaction from the grown up dinosaurs at the end though. Like they see everyone getting along so well and decide that maybe dinosaurs can all get along. Some kind of coming of age moment where they realize the error of their ways. Perhaps the film writers felt that would be too cheesy or just too rushed to put in the last minutes though. I mean you could say it’s pretty much implied I guess, everyone is hanging out at the same area after all and at this point the kids have been through enough where they’re probably old enough to hang out with whoever they want. One of these days I’ll probably watch the sequels so we’ll see how they go.

Overall, The Land Before Time is a pretty fun film. It has a reasonable cast of characters and I was glad that Littlefoot got the win in the end since Cera really wasn’t being helpful or grateful at all the whole time. It is fairly short so the movie ends really fast but I’d say it got a good amount of plot in there. It might not be the most exciting movie out there which keeps it from being a bit higher but the quick length keeps it from dragging on. For example if this had been a 2 hour movie I would argue that it would actually hurt the experience since that would just be too much. At about an hour? Yeah that’s a pretty good length for this one.

Overall 6/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 3 Review

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Natsume and Nyanko are back for some more adventures in season 3. The show definitely has had a pretty good run and barely halfway through. At this point you know if you like the series or not. Natsume is a very consistent title with the adventures. The slice of life format works well as Natsume learns more life lessons and gets to meet a lot of Yokai both good and bad. The show may not always be super exciting but you should have a good time checking it out. Ultimately it’s a quality wholesome show that you can watch at any time.

The first episode deals with Reiko which is always nice. Basically she helped out a Yokai involving a case with a mirror. There was a bit of a misunderstanding but ultimately Reiko helped her out anyway showing that Natsume’s mysterious grandmother definitely had a kind heart. We still don’t know a whole lot about her which is part of that character’s mystique but whenever she appears she seems like a very nice person. So it feels like something isn’t adding up about her reputation but for now there’s not much of a way for Natsume to dig deeper into this. Reiko’s definitely still the best character in the series though with how pro active she is. While Natsume gets steamrolled by the Yokai most of the time, Reiko was always in control.

In the second episode Natsume had to try and get a Yokai to stop haunting his friend’s house. The haunted house plot point is always a solid one for anything supernatural but in this case it’s less of a murder mystery slasher and more about talking things out. Ultimately Natsume is usually able to talk things out which is why it’s intense when the Yokai really turns out to be sinister. Natsume was also given the option to finally go to the Yokai world this time instead of remaining with the mere mortals. Ultimately he stayed and I really wouldn’t say that he was all that tempted. While he may have had a really hard time for most of his life, it’s fair to say that he’s having a really good time now that Nyanko has his back. Natsume has a ton of friends and connections now so why would he ever want to leave right? I feel like being around Yokai 24/7 with no other humans would have a ton of downsides.

The third episode is probably the most annoying one in the season. An old “friend” named Shibata appears acting all friendly but he and Natsume had never gotten along before so it’s suspicious. Sure enough, the guy is here to ask for favors and to generally be an annoying guy. He believes that a girl he met might be a Yokai and he wants to know for sure before proceeding with their relationship. It’s a valid concern to be sure so you get why he’s doing this but it’s the way that he went about it which was annoying. He was quick to blackmail Natsume and the threats came before Natsume could really try to help.

Lets be honest here, Natsume’s a very nice guy. He absolutely would have helped this punk regardless of the fact that they weren’t exactly close friends. Then once Natsume does tell him, the guy refuses to listen. So much for wanting the truth right? Yeah this guy was just awful the whole time. The actual story is still pretty wholesome and emotional but while the show expects you to sympathize with Shibata by the end, I never did. He just doesn’t seem like a good guy so in a way it’s probably good that no romance could ever really come out of this encounter. Also in general I don’t think it’ll ever work out between a human and yokai due to the fact that Yokai are effectively immortal (With a lot of asterisks on that) while humans fade away real fast.

After that we get one of the more plot important episodes to the series when we see Natsume as a kid and how he met this one Yokai who would always scare him. It’s a pretty sad story all around because the Yokai was really just glad that someone could finally see her. Scaring humans was really all that she knew how to do and by the time she realized the damage she was doing it was too late. Natsume had left. So from the Yokai’s perspective she had to basically remember that for years and couldn’t do anything about it because she had no idea where it was.

It’s an episode where Natsume looks really good because we see that he never held a grudge against her at all and later on really understood things from the Yokai’s point of view. It’s also a reminder of how tough it can be to live as a Yokai. There are countless dangers around the world from the villains who can see you and yet there aren’t many good people who will ever notice you. It’s like the worst of both worlds which is a really sticky spot to be in. It’s rare to get a glimpse into Natsume’s past so that was really nice. This is definitely a top tier episode in the whole franchise so far.

In the next episode we have a more low key adventure but the fun part is Natsume gets to hang out with Tanuma and Taki this time. They have to find the pieces of a Yokai before it becomes whole and starts murdering everyone. Ultimately it’s also going to take friendship with the rest of the Yokai in order to stop such a threat. It’s a nice enough episode and Natsume’s friends are always fun so it’s nice to have them around. Natsume is still at the point where he doesn’t let them get super close to help out but at least they both know about Yokai which is more than what most know. While this may not be a super eventful episode, I think it’s a fairly good standalone one to even show a new viewer to understand what the series is all about. Ultimately helping both Yokai and humans is what Natsume does and generally his actions in each episode reflect that. Often times by helping one side he ends up helping the other. It’s very rare where he has to actually take someone down.

After that we have a two part adventure where we finally see Matoboa in full action. The guy is a fairly strong exorcist and unlike Natsume this guy really doesn’t like Yokai. We now have the big contrast and you have to figure they will have a real fight at some point. Matoba is very accomplished though and has a large family/army of followers by his side so things would be rough for Natsume. The episodes are really about showing how ruthless Matoba is as he takes down a lot of Yokai to get to his target, regardless of if they’re innocent or not. He also captures Natsume at one point.

Natori also gets to appear here and he sort of serves as the middle option. If Matoba is all about destroying all Yokai while Natsume wants to save them all, Natori tries to do a bit of both. He’ll save some Yokai but he’ll absolutely destroy some others. He ultimately is as reasonable and rational as possible. Both characters won’t agree with him all the time but they do tend to get along with him more than they would each other. It’s a pretty fun two part adventure especially because of how it’s setting up future events but I really hope Nyanko pulls through to land some damage on Matoba at some point. I think one weakness of the main characters being pacifists is they will often let Matoba and other characters land hits on them without ever really retaliating. Of course that’s honorable but it can also be annoying when pushed too far.

The last episode actually has lasting effects on the rest of the season which is impressive. For example in the next episode Nyanko is still wounded so Natsume tries to find something that can heal him. This even results in the little fox Yokai returning after being gone for so long. So that was pretty neat and in general it’s a pretty fun episode. That fox always looks up to Natsume and Nyanko. He nearly starts to get tricked a little easily which could have been dicey but things end up working out. It’s a very low key adventure since there’s barely a conflict in it but Natsume needed a little downtime after the last adventure.

After that Nyanko was still sick so Natsume had to go to school without him and help out with the events. The problem is that a Yokai is messing with him the whole time which is making him look suspect. How can he deal with this creature while Nyanko is still out of commission? That’s the main dilemma here and it works pretty well. I think the show actually could have learned into the dangers of Natsume being on his own without Nyanko a little harder to be honest but this works well enough.

Then we get to the next big adventure with Tanuma acting a little suspicious. He’s been avoiding Natsume as of late so the hero catches up to him to see what’s going on. Well, Tanuma is now being possessed by a mysterious Yokai. Tanuma doesn’t remember when he’s been possessed as it goes in and out but this is pretty dangerous. It’s also one of the few times we see Natsume being genuinely upset because he does think that’s crossing a line. Possessing his friend like that is definitely no joke. Ultimately being a nice guy wins out and he does help Tanuma’s spirit out but it’s a bit grudgingly.

I also think the fact that Nyanko couldn’t blast the spirit out without hurting Tanuma was a little convenient. It feels like when the chips are down Nyanko is just unable to deliver when it counts. Considering how legendarily powerful he is it’s just a bit suspect if you ask me. I suppose I should cut him some slack…but I dunnooooooo. So it was a good adventure but once again it points out the weakness to Natsume being so passive here. I need my main character to be able to fight when necessary and the problem is that I just don’t really think he will in most instances.

After that Natsume gets sick and a spirit from his past returns to mess with him. It caused a whole lot of problems back when Natsume was a kid and now it is back to cause more chaos. Fortunately this time Nyanko does take full credit for taking it down. This episode was also fairly tense because this creature was absolutely not going to be talked down and was really just trying to mess Natsume up. We don’t see a ton of creatures that are quite this bloodthirsty so that was definitely real intense. It made for a solid story and giving more focus to Nyanko was a good idea since he was sidelined for a decent chunk of the season.

Finally we have a light episode to end the series with. Natsume basically gets to hang out with the whole cast of Yokai and they all get to play a lot of games. I would say there’s not a whole lot of plot to the finale because it’s really all about just hanging out and having a good time. It fits in with the spirit of the series though as Natsume has always wanted to have some friends and now he has finally found a lot of good ones. He’s certainly not alone anymore and the final episode really shows just how true that is.

In terms of the technical aspects I’d say Natsume has never been a particularly high budget show. The visuals are nice enough but they’re not going to stand out or anything like that. The soundtrack is very subdued as well so you probably won’t have any songs that really stand out. The show survives and does well on the good writing and the solid stories. It doesn’t have any kind of backup on the technical side so it’d be nice to see that improve in future seasons.

Overall, Natsume season 3 is a fun show. Does it beat or lose to the first two? It’s hard to say because they’re all fairly even to a large degree. If push came to shove I’d probably say it beats season 1 and loses to 2 but they’re all super close. If you’re in the mood for a solid slice of life title with a lot of fun adventuring then this is the one to go for. You’re always learning good life lessons in the show and the pacing is definitely on point. It’s a very calm show that’s easy to watch at any point and the ideas for different Yokai scenarios are really endless. This can keep going on as long as the author can think of more scenarios to come up with.

Overall 6/10

Baby Driver 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 would be more negative

I remember seeing a whole lot of promotion for this film back in the day when it was coming out. It really got to be quite the big deal back in the day and who doesn’t like a high speed car film right? now that I’ve seen it I can safely say that it is a solid title. It’s a pretty well rounded film with a solid cast of characters.

The movie starts by introducing us to Baby who is the best getaway driver out there. He doesn’t want to be living this life of crime but doesn’t really have a way out yet. Doc has some serious dirt on the guy and he’s a powerful mobster in general so if Baby crosses him then it’s lights out. At least Doc says Baby just needs to do one last job and then they’re square. Is that really the truth? Well, Baby can’t really risk that either way. His foster parent Joe isn’t happy about this life of crime but it’s hard for Baby to explain exactly what’s going on. Then he falls for a lady named Deborah while at a café. Baby is trying to move forward in his life but the past just keeps on catching up.

Baby makes for a fairly unique character as he’s always listening to music because he suffers from tinnitus. Definitely a really rough condition to have and one that can be hard to fix even in modern times. So listening to music helps him tune out the constant whistle at least. He’s got a ton of different pairs of glasses and Ipads at the ready and even makes mixtapes in his spare time. This all makes for a fairly compelling main character and I think most impressively is how he’s able to stay strong and not flinch when the other villains try to mess with him.

I also liked that he isn’t naïve about the whole thing. Sometimes you see the main guy being blackmailed to being a villain but is really slow on the uptake the whole time. That’s not the case with Baby, he’s always alert and always ready to make a move. His plans towards the end of the film were actually really solid, just the wrong thing kept happening at the wrong time. So he’s definitely a unique main character and worked well in the role.

I also enjoyed Doc as the main villain. He’s a fairly ruthless guy who definitely doesn’t take no as an answer from the other characters. He will make sure they get their money and are fairly compensated though. The guy is a full businessman, an evil one but he’s not crazy. So the guy has had a steady business as a result and just keeps it moving. Perhaps his last scenes felt a bit rushed in terms of character but I’ll just take the scene at face value for now and he just wasn’t all bad.

As the main heroine Deborah is a fun character as well. She tries to cheer up Baby when he seems down and generally seems like a nice person. She had the right attitude on the job and she was quick on the uptake when Baby walked in with the gang. Deborah really didn’t make any mistakes so I appreciated that and she didn’t just freeze when the villains show up. She grabs a pipe and actually hits one of them which was really key since it bought enough time for the heroes there.

Then for the other villains, I would say Bats was the highlight. He’s a very tough guy who has been around the block a lot of times before. Nothing bothers him and he is always ready for a fight. The guy can be a little too perceptive for his own good at times but nothing just gets past him. I enjoyed having him around and he’s the kind of villain you want on your side in a heist. You don’t want to be going against him or it’s not going to end well.

Finally we have Buddy and Darling who really love flaunting their relationship in front of everyone. Darling in particular seems to get a kick out of it since she’ll have Buddy murder anyone who takes a look at her. They make for a solid toxic duo on the villain roster and Buddy is definitely a really determined guy. At first he seems like one of the nicer ones on the villain squad but once you’re on his bad list then it’s over.

What helps put Baby Driver at a solid level here is that the characters are fun. I feel like I’ve seen a ton of films with the main guy helping some gangsters and they’re all super forgettable criminals. You finish the film and you just won’t remember these guys at all. In this film they all had full character personalities so you won’t be forgetting them any time soon. I’d say that’s a good credit to the movie.

While the soundtrack’s fairly well known here I would say it can be hit or miss. I wasn’t particularly impressed with many of the tunes here but it certainly did have a lot of them. Music is a good way to build intensity during the chase scenes so that is appreciated. The specific songs just weren’t all that great compared to what they could have been but they were all fast paced which is the main important part. I enjoyed all of the car scenes and there was a lot of effort put into them. The actual shooting battles were also on point. They felt like true gunfights with a lot of back and forth. The whole climax is very hectic in a good way.

Overall, Baby Driver is a pretty good movie. It lived up to the trailers and you don’t always know what’s going to happen next. The pacing is on point and the writing was solid too. It works really well as a stand alone film and covers everything that it needs to. I think a sequel to this could be fun too since there’s a lot of avenues you can go for it. Baby Driver isn’t trying to be super ambitious or anything like that, just a good film to pass the time by and that works out well. It is a lot of fun and you’ll finish the movie feeling satisfied. I’d definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

In/Spectre Season 2 Review

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In/Spectre has returned! There aren’t a ton of mystery anime going on right now so it’s always fun to check one of these out. The first season was also fun in part because of how unique the whole premise was. I’ve never seen a detective solve all of their crimes through a bunch of lies before but it really makes sense in part because there should be very few characters who could actually call her bluff on it. Season 2 continues with this and brings in some more fun cases. I’d definitely like to see this show get a season 3 and keep on going because the cases have been consistently interesting.

The first episode is fairly low key to remind you of what the premise is. Kotoko is basically a legendary goddess among the undead spirits and so they come to her with problems to be solved. She will then use her detective skills to get to the bottom of the situation. It always involves some kind of a mystery after all. What separates her from other detectives though is that she will lie in order to put the client at ease. For example she doesn’t always know the answer to the mystery. Other times she does, but figures the truth will not be easy for the client to hear so she changes it up. Often times her boyfriend Kuro will notice that she’s lying but he tends to stay quiet about it.

The first adventure involves creepy sounds in the house. Possibly a vengeful spirit or was there an explanation that’s a little less supernatural? It’s stand alone so Kotoko solves the case pretty easily. It’s probably the least eventful out of all the episodes but as an intro to the season is works well enough. I should also mention that since Kotoko can talk to all these dead spirits it does give her a huge leg up over the other detectives. After all she doesn’t have to question a bunch of people. She can just ask some nearby spirits on the details and then the case is solved. Often times for that reason as the viewer we don’t see her chat with the spirits so she can explain things in the end. We’re kept in the dark until the end so that the whole thing can be a surprise for us too.

After that we get the first big mystery saga. So big in fact that Kotoko basically misses the first part of this arc. There’s a guy named Masayuki who has been having some rather rotten luck. He was thrown out of his own company and then his friend tried to murder him. Then his wife ended up divorcing him so he lost 50% of his assets. Yeah it definitely has not been an easy road for him and he’s been super depressed when he ends up meeting a strange being known as a Yuki-Onna. The legends say that they will slay any human they come across but she doesn’t seem so violent. In fact, Yuki is the one who saved him when his “friend” left him to die on the mountain. Masayuki believes his luck is finally changing but then his ex-wife is murdered and he is the primary suspect.

Because Masayuki has been hanging out with Yuki all day in his house he doesn’t have much of an alibi. He’s also trying to not get her in trouble with the authorities so he’s very cryptic about everything. Now he may have to spend the rest of his life in jail. Yuki needs some help and so she calls in Kotoko to handle this. Surely the goddess of wisdom can handle such a task right? Well, it won’t be as easy as all that because Kotoko also isn’t sure that this guy is right for her in the first place. Relationships between humans and yokai don’t always go very well after all so she tests them quite a lot.

It’s an engaging mystery in part because there was so much setup. Not having Kotoko or Kuro jump in until later was a good idea. This way we really got to experience Masayuki’s life first and see exactly how everything had gone wrong for him. He makes for a decent main character although obviously I can’t say that the romance was very solid. It’s a rebound no matter how you slice it. Also by coincidence Yuki looks a lot like his ex-wife…so that does not help matters.

As a yokai Yuki’s values are a lot different than a human’s so she doesn’t mind having an affair and teases him a lot. To Masayuki’s defense he never crumbles though and does want to take this very seriously. He passes the tests quite well and doesn’t really lose his cool even when Kotoko is slandering him quite a lot. The guy gets threatened and is already in a rough situation but I’d say he mainly takes it in stride. The story really has everything you could want in one of the In/Spectre cases from Kotoko’s constant lying with false scenarios to building up a pretty unique case.

After that we get a smaller adventure where Rikka gets most of the screen time. She decides to crash at a nice couple’s house and they are glad to have her even if they are a bit nervous. She has a ton of money and seems a little shady. Plus her story about running away from some terrible people sounds concerning and then she leaves as soon as she appeared, only for Kotoko and Kuro to show up. There is a tiny mystery squeezed in at the end but this was really just a chance to see the main villain again and how she can keep up with Kotoko in wits. They really parallel each other quite well even though they can’t stand each other.

Of course Rikka is the big villain of the series so you can’t root for her, whether she’s charismatic or not. Also there’s still the very problematic romance with her and Kuro so you couldn’t let her win for that reason as well. I expect she will continue to bring the main characters a lot of problems over the next few seasons but the dynamic is fun. She’s actively trying to murder Kotoko but the heroine takes this in stride and they still seem to have a lot of begrudging respect for each other.

Now we have the biggest mystery in the season. A wealthy old man hires Kotoko to explain to his relatives that he actually murdered his wife. Here’s the thing…he didn’t. However, he hired a yokai to destroy her and so he wants to take full responsibility before he dies and he wants to do this directly. Lying is what Kotoko does best so she’s up for the task but the only other stipulation is she needs to get the relatives to come up with this theory first rather than just telling them. So she has to subtly lead them down that path which isn’t exactly easy. In addition she will have them rank which death story is the best one and then that will decide who gets the largest part of the inheritance.

Kotoko immediately makes some alterations to this plan but in a nutshell the story is really about the whole family coming up with ideas on how the old man could have murdered her. The official story is she was stabbed in the middle of the night by a stranger so using that as a baseline they have to figure out how to tie it to him. As the saga unfolds we see that most of these relatives were quite shady and he wasn’t exactly the only one who wanted to bump her off. The lady had made quite a few enemies in and out of her family.

It’s actually pretty tragic the more they get into it because she did have her heart in the right place initially. The problem is that she became a pawn for the CEO and then the rest of the family were not bold enough to actually talk and help her out. They never voiced any of their reservations and issues. The fact that they were ready to jump straight into murder actually speaks quite lowly of them to be honest. When that’s your first option then perhaps you were twisted from the get go. So none of these characters are particularly likable aside from a niece who didn’t actually have anything to do with the murder plot. Just about everyone else had some blood on their hands.

This helps the saga last for so many episodes of course because there is twist after twist in each one. Kotoko is good at getting the truth out there by lying enough times. Ultimately it’s got a pretty solid conclusion and you’ll be engaged the whole time. On paper you may wonder how the story can keep your focus as it keeps replaying over and over with new details but they do pull it off rather well.

Finally we end with another one shot mystery. In this one a guy decides to finally turn himself in to the cops for murdering his wife however first he gets called to a café by his friend. Has the friend figured it out? The guy figures if the friend finds out then that works too but either way he will be turning himself in. Kotoko of course ends up getting involved too and makes for a pretty fun distraction while the two guys are eating. You’re constantly wondering what she is even doing there and that mystery is explained by the end.

The end of the episode is surprisingly mean spirited with how things go for the guy but you have to remind yourself that he is by no means a good person. He’s a literal murderer so if anything it’s good that he didn’t get off too easy. Yeah this guy’s going to be in for a lousy time for a very long while but that actually makes a lot of sense and fits the crime. The Supernatural legal system doesn’t bow to the moral setup so he may not have known what he was getting himself into but then he definitely shouldn’t have gotten mixed up in this in the first place. Another really solid case to end things off with.

I actually skipped one mystery in this summary. Which one did I skip? Well that’s a mystery!! Yeah I got a little mystery of my own in there. In the end the show’s cast is fairly small so you should be able to quickly know all of them. Right now there’s really just 3, Kuro, Kotoko, and Rikka. I thought Kuro’s old girlfriend would have returned in this season but I guess that wasn’t to be. I like Kuro and Rikka a lot but Kotoko is definitely the weak link of the 3. Her gimmick of constantly being desperate for Kuro can be a bit iffy and she’s intentionally vulgar at times which the other characters really grill her about.

I know that’s her character and effectively that’s the humor of the subplot but I wouldn’t say it lands. The show is at its best with the mystery angle and isn’t quite able to balance the humor on top of that. Usually I like the dry humor style too so this is really just one of those exceptions. Still it’s not like she’s a Roshi character or anything. She limits her teasing and flirting to Kuro and doesn’t mess with anyone else so I appreciate the loyalty. I’d just say the romance isn’t going anywhere fast.

The soundtrack is decent but a step down from the first season. The new opening isn’t as catchy and the general ost is a bit on the generic side. There’s really just not a whole lot to it. The visuals are okay. I’d hardly call this one of the more high budget shows though. It looks good enough to pass by and that’s really about it. So the show is standing on its plot completely without the technical backdrops to help it out. Fortunately when the core of your show is good then the rest will follow suit but I do think it’d be nice if the show could have looked a bit more solid.

In/Spectre should continue to operate on a consistent level though because the angle is just a lot of fun. I can’t emphasize enough how interesting it is to have a detective who is constantly lying and pulling the wool over everyones’ eyes. It’s very unique and it also does not take away from the fun part of solving the mystery since we usually do get to know the truth. In the cases where we don’t, Kotoko at least has a very good idea of what it was and we just have to fill in some of the blanks which I’m always happy to do anyway.

Overall, In/Spectre has another solid season here. The mysteries are on point and the writing for them is good. At times Kotoko can still be a little too annoying and I can’t say her crude personality does her any favors. Fortunately there isn’t a ton of time for that when making deductions which is still the main purpose of the show after all. The overall story of the series may not have moved a whole lot here but it’s the kind of show that could probably stay in slice of life style for years and that would be fine. There are plenty of supernatural mystery stories to tell after all. I’d definitely recommend this one if you’re looking for a fun mystery series to check out.

Overall 7/10

Blade Runner 2049 Review

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

Uh oh, Blade Runner’s back! This series has to be one of the biggest missed opportunities in all of cinema. How do you mess up a future setting filled with androids that look like humans and corporate finally taking over the world? Well you do it by not exploring any of the fun aspects of this and instead dragging out every scene as long as possible. There are so many scenes that are just quiet as we get a lingering shot of the sky or the city. I know they want to show off the special effects but the plot grinds to a standstill way too often.

The story starts off decently enough as we see K enter a guy’s home and murder him. He’s basically an enforcer for corporate whose mission is to destroy old replicant versions. The ones that can no longer be trusted and are out of date. He’s very good at his job, in fact many would say that he is the best. The guy doesn’t fail and he never lets his emotions get the better of him. That being said, this next mission is a little different. He is tasked with murdering a replicant that was born from another which should be impossible since they aren’t fully human. Additionally K has mixed feelings about this because that could imply that this person has a soul. Can he go through with this mission or is it time to resist against the system?

Since there are more negatives than positives let me go through the good first. One of the villains is an android named Luv who actually makes for a very imposing villain. She’s a strong fighter and is quite ruthless. Her emotionless demeanor holds for most of the film although she does not like to have competition so she has a personal vendetta against K which appears later on. She gets sloppy towards the end but was otherwise a very intense killing machine that fits in with this Terminator kind of future.

In general the fights could also be good. At times not as good as possible when it just resorts to who can hold a choke hold the longest, but when there’s an actual fight then it can be enjoyable. For example there’s one scene where K’s ship is downed by a group of rebels and instead of meekly falling to the ground like most protagonists he just breaks the first guy and starts shooting. As I always say, if you’re likely going to be murdered anyway, at least go down with a fight!

The other positive I can say is there are some nice visuals here. The shots of the city actually do look nice and you could appreciate them more if they weren’t so dragged out. Likewise there are some good bits of dialogue and the idea of deciding what line you won’t cross as a contracted killer is always an interesting one. More so when you aren’t even sure if you can truly defy your programming.

The main problem with the film is in the execution. I’ve already talked about how everything is super dragged out and I’d say it’s because this movie has enough plot to probably fill 30 minutes easily and then you have a lot of fluff here. I believe the reason is that the film was trying to pack in a lot of lore and world building so you can understand what kind of world this is but that’s just not needed. You already understand it pretty well from the opening scene as well as the intro explaining what is happening.

Blade Runner also relies quite a bit on fanservice throughout the film in the most random of scenes. We see the process of creating an android which is shown in the most disturbing way possible while still keeping in fanservice. It’s to show you that Wallace is completely insane and one of those guys who lost all of his morality a long time ago. We could have basically guessed that though without that super long scene. Seriously that scene was really long and you can just tell us he’s evil without having such a long moment about it. This came in fairly early into the film to really make sure things didn’t get off on the right foot.

I would have probably just cut him out of the film entirely to be honest. You don’t need a specific main villain for this kind of film. A board of directors or something would work just as well and they still send Luv out to take K down once and for all before finishing the mission. They’re looking at this as cold hard calculated facts so you don’t even need an over the top evil villain at all. If anything it oversimplifies things by giving you a concrete main villain instead of reminding you that the whole society is crazy by this point.

Then you have the romance of sorts with K and the holographic figure known as Joi. Now how much you buy into this romance will depend on just how real you think Joi is. It’s established that even this deep into the future the robots don’t have souls yet which is why the situation of an android kid is such a big deal. At the same time, is he really hurting anyone by falling in love with a program? Even in real life you’re seeing that and well..it’s definitely something. I don’t think the plotline itself is awful but the romance is very cringe and drawn out the whole time.

I could definitely do without all those scenes. If you’re going to go through with the A.I. fantasy then I think giving her more of a solid personality beyond just being his love interest would certainly help. She literally does feel like she was just created to suit his needs which is basically what happened so without more depth then that’s it. She does obviously care about him and wants to help but it’s all programming.

This doesn’t do K any favors either since it makes him look really desperate. He was also a full villain for most of the film as he carries out his orders without thinking about the morality of it. You can understand this based on his origin but the whole time you’re still waiting for him to turn good and it sure takes a while. The only character who acts like a hero from the jump is Deckard and it takes him way longer to appear than I thought. He was a fairly big deal in the promotions and everything since people were looking forward to seeing him. I think he would have personally worked a lot better in this film as the lead compared to K. K’s great for the fight scenes but it’s not like he’s a great character either.

If the film could focus more instead of going for all the shock value then I think you could have a lot of promise here. The film just gets really gritty at times like with Wallace’s first scene and then it drags on a lot during others. So what you have here is a lot of time not really spent on advancing the story. If you want to make this a slow boil event then you need to really focus on the philosophical aspect more like K wondering if he’s a real person or not. Having to wonder if you’re an organic life form or fully robotic is an interesting angle and of course the whole conversation about having a soul.

These plots are all handled better in other mediums though. Also, as was one of my complaints in the first film, the movie doesn’t make the most of the Sci-Fi backdrop. Sure we do get more this time like flying cars and sci-fi projectors but a good portion of the film takes place in old locations like a small hotel, inside the compound, or abandoned forest areas. The main guy has a basic gun and a flying car but we’re still not seeing as much as you would expect from 2049. In movie-land I should say. In the real world I don’t think things are going to particularly look all that different 20 years from now.

Overall, Blade Runner 2049 serves as a warning bell for when robots take over the Earth and wipe us out. That said, you can see this message much more effectively by watching the Terminator films or the CGI Blame! film. Those titles are way more direct about it and also balance the action and warning tones a lot better. This one’s just way too drawn out to have an effective message and is focused on the wrong things. I couldn’t possibly imagine re watching this one and the negative moments severely overpower the positive stuff. That’s really the movie’s biggest problem. Perhaps the third film can change things but I have my doubts.

Overall 1/10

Bomberman Tournament Review

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Bomberman has returned for his next adventure! When playing through the story mode you’ll probably be wondering why this is called “Tournament” but it does have a multiplayer mode and there are some optional tournaments you can enter with the creatures so I guess that’ll do. Personally I’d say it is a bit of an untapped resource here since there’s a lot you could do with the whole Pokemon homage. As it stands you only have 2 mandatory fights in the whole game.

The basic plot is that Max has gone missing and now the Dastardly Bombers are running around causing trouble. Bomberman is called in to take these guys down once and for all. Let me tell you, this guy is absolutely ready for action and won’t be taking prisoners. Does he have the bombs needed to blow up all of the enemies around him or is he quickly going to find out the limits of his own abilities? One thing’s for sure, they never should have messed with Bomberman’s planet!

The gameplay is your classic Bomberman style to an extent with a few extra additions. You use bombs to clear out debris and enemies as you try to get to the goal. During a boss fight you use the bombs strategically to box the enemy in and land some serious damage. Where it’s a bit different here is the game’s part RPG style so you actually capture a lot of Pokemon (Karabon, but it’s so similar I’m just going to call them Pokemon) and they have special abilities. Things like kicking the bombs, throwing them, moving through walls, etc. It’s a pretty interesting way to add some depth to the gameplay although the only mild annoyance is to switch your equipped Pokemon (You can only have 1 equipped at a time) you have to go into the start menu and switch through some tabs. Like I said, not the most convenient option for sure.

Some abilities are permanent at least so you don’t need the Pokemon equipped. Another benefit to having one equipped is that any items you find along the map are automatically added to that creature’s level. You’ll see a lot of attack, defense, and special point boosts. They all go to the one you have equipped and so if you have none equipped then they are just wasted. There are tons of these everywhere so you don’t need to go out of your way to grind them. You’ll get the power ups fairly quick, trust me on that. I didn’t focus on this and I still won my two matches rather quickly.

There are also a small handful of minigames in the story but only like 2-3 so you can easily forget that they’re even a thing here. It was still nice to see though. So the game gets props for having a lot of different gameplay styles in the mix. I also think it tried a little harder to have a grand story as it’s all played fairly serious and the villain designs were on point. It’s a lot older so there isn’t any voice acting or any of that but the story’s on point.

The graphics could stand to be a little more detailed but they work well enough. You can always follow the action of what’s happening here. The ost is also surprisingly good, there are actually a number of solid songs as you go through the levels. That’s also good because it’s a fairly small soundtrack so you need to prepare to hear each song quite a few times. The story I’d say is probably like 4-5 hours give or take. It took me longer than expected mainly because I happened to bump into a game ending glitch in the first world. The character just would not let me heal the Pokemon to continue. I had to replay the world 2 more times after the initial playthrough before it finally worked. I still don’t know what the problem was but in the end I just followed a video walkthrough for that level exactly. I must have been doing something in the wrong order but it was definitely a bit of a bizarre glitch.

Well, glitches can happen anywhere I suppose. On the whole the game is still fun enough where you will have a good time. You are rewarded as you play through by getting stronger and stronger. It’d be nice if more of the secret caves had nice stuff in them though. Half the time it’s an NPC just telling you basic information and you wonder why they were hidden. Give me more power ups and hearts. The game isn’t a cakewalk but it’s not too difficult so you should have a smooth time even without a lot of the bonus hearts to help you out with. Always keep a potion on hand just in case you need it.

For the most part you’ll find most of the collectibles just while playing normally anyway. Each world doesn’t trigger its story until you talk to someone so to be on the safe side I always talked with everyone in every village so you end up grabbing everything else too. My main advice in the gameplay/boss battles is to run and gun. Constantly throw out as many bombs as possible behind you and that should help give you the edge in combat. Bomberman veterans will really know how to trap the opponent right away but I’m definitely more casual. So I find the best way is to just throw out a lot of bombs and eventually you will hit the opponent. Just make sure you don’t get hit too because your own bombs do 2 hearts worth of damage to you.

Overall, Bomberman Tournament is a pretty fun game. The Pokemon addition is pretty fun but the battles feel like a missed opportunity since they weren’t incorporated into the story all that much. Additionally there is no gameplay in those as you’re just watching the characters fight each other. I definitely would have changed that up a bit to have active gameplay in the mix as well. It would make the fighting feel more engaging and would encourage you to level them up. Instead it’s basically full RNG which isn’t quite as satisfying. You are playing for the bomb gameplay first and foremost though and that is as smooth as can be. The Bomberman series definitely understands how to pull that off without a hitch by this point.

Overall 7/10