Category Archives: Reviews

Wander Darkly 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

Wander Darkly is one of those films that’s sorta part mystery to an extent as you try to find out exactly what was going on here but also much a drama film. The main two have to try and get past their differences to save their marriage before it’s too late. Unfortunately the movie stumbles out of the gate and keeps jumping from memory to memory without enough interesting elements to keep your attention.

The film starts with Adrienne and Matteo fighting as always. They went to a party and Matteo felt like Adrienne was flirting with one of the guys there while she thinks he’s being overly jealous. Well, they end up getting into a car crash and Adrienne dies. She then wakes up as a ghost that is doomed to travel across the cosmos on her own now. The worst part is she learns that Matteo ends up abandoning their kid and running off. So she goes back to the moment where she died and tries to talk things out with him. Matteo says she isn’t dead since they’re talking and all but Adrienne refuses to see anybody because doesn’t think it’s worth it since she’s absolutely positive that she’s dead. So they take this time to talk things out.

The majority of the film is the big talk between the two of them as they relive all of the major events of their lives. The film’s using a stylistic approach here as they aren’t literally transported back in time but are sort of doing image training like in DBZ. As a result that means that the supporting characters can also change the script up and talk according to their feelings. It’s an interesting approach so I’ll give the film some props there. They hop back and forth between the past and future a whole lot but of course the future is a possible one, not necessarily the real one.

The biggest issue with the film for me is how unlikable both of the main characters are. They were complaining a whole lot right from the instant the movie starts. Mainly you see this a lot from Adrienne initially as Matteo can’t do anything right in her eyes and he keeps getting slammed the whole time. Any suggestion is shot down and she pretty much says that they can’t have any fun no matter what he says.

So you figure she is probably bitter about something and as we look through the memories it’s a lot of somethings. Well, Matteo doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong, he’s just got a tough job to do and all that. Well…unfortunately we see that he did cheat on her in one of the memories. Sure it was “Just for an instant” and he snapped out of it but the damage was certainly done and it validated all of her fears. Matteo didn’t have to put himself in such a dangerous situation where that would happen so it’s all on him.

Now all of his scenes where he kept thinking she might be cheating on him loses a lot of its punch. For Adrienne we see that she didn’t get to cheat on him, however she basically admits to wanting to do so. Not a good look for her either and so both characters just look really bad. It would have been nice if their trip down memory lane had actually shown that both of them were innocent as it would have been a very wholesome way to end things. Instead they both look even worse than when the film had even started which is a shame.

Of course the romance here is very weak as a result. There’s just no way to root for any of the characters. Especially with how obviously that one girl was flirting with Matteo and how Adrienne was fine letting that guy flirt with her. Once you’ve made a choice then you’ve got to stick to it. Either you decide to live your whole life alone and just deal with it or you get a partner but there are no second choices there.

Given that this was the entire movie, it ended up failing entirely for me. The writing wasn’t very good and the story just wasn’t interesting. It’s just a ton of bickering until they re fall in love with each other through the memories but given what they have seen it’s hard to really get past that. The switching between memories and the real world is an interesting idea but it’s done so rapidly and constant that it ends up overstaying its welcome early on. You can probably guess where the ending is going eventually as the film goes on but I wouldn’t say it works very well.

It’s not a bad ending by any means but you’re pretty much checked out by this point. It would have needed a much bolder ending to really reel you back in. There’s a lot of ways you could do this from the ghost angle or maybe you could even do some time travel for an actual redo. It would have probably been a little too late though. The movie takes itself so seriously and also could have used some humor or something. For the most part the whole thing is just a lot of doom and gloom. Even the happy scenes are tarnished by the fact that you know it doesn’t end well. Also the twist does put into question how she could have seen the possible future but with the multiverse theory I suppose there’s a few ways you could swing that.

Overall, Wander Darkly is a movie that you will want to absolutely skip at all costs. It’s just not a good movie and I would struggle to find any good parts about it. At the end of the day there is no way to pull off a romantic drama if the two main characters aren’t likable. It’s just not happening and a potential remake would absolutely have to find some way to address that or it’ll be doomed from the start. It’s time to wander away from this one.

Overall 1/10

Dolls 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

Dolls is one of those films where you figure the main characters are going to be doomed but the question is…how doomed? Will they be able to put up a fight or are they doomed right out of the gate? In the end I wouldn’t say the Dolls are the strongest horror villains as the humans can put up a fight but it’s fair to say that they’re still a solid threat. This is a horror film that’s mostly going through the motions, I wouldn’t recommend it but the novelty of evil dolls is always intense.

The movie starts off with one of the meanest families getting stranded as their car goes in the mud. You have the stepmother Rosemary who can’t stand her husband’s daughter Judy and makes no secret of this. Rosemary wants to send her off to boarding school and insists on being mean for no reason. Then you have David who is so desperate for Rosemary’s attention and devotion that he will basically grovel and will take her side against Judy’s every time. Finally you have Judy who has dreams of the parents getting eaten alive by her teddy bear. So these 3 have a whole lot of issues but at least they have a place to sleep now.

See, there’s an abandoned mansion owned by a senior couple named Gabriel and Hilary. They don’t mind having company for the night. The family is soon joined by the two hitchhikers they nearly destroyed while driving to the mud patch as well as a guy named Ralph who is being manipulated by those two. Ralph seems like the only decent adult here so will he be able to escape the wrath of the dolls or is it too late? One thing’s for sure, nobody is going to be having a very peaceful night here.

Now you may be wondering…how can you lose to a bunch of toys? Well, in some cases it’s really the surprise factor. When the toys have already stabbed you before you’ve begun to fight then it’s difficult to do much. For example I wouldn’t say Rosemary had much of a fighting chance from the jump. As the meanest character in the film you figured that the movie was definitely going to cook something up for her. Being mean pretty much never pays in a horror film. Often times nice characters will die too but they tend to get off a little easier at least.

Then for Isabel and Enid, they’re petty thieves who don’t mind stealing from old people so of course things aren’t going to go well for them. Isabel’s death goes more into the surprise factor but Enid plays this one quite horribly. Okay so you’re outnumbered by the toys but you do have a flaming weapon plus you’ve had time to adapt which is more than most of the other characters got. So now you can plan a proper counter attack and start taking these guys down right?

Well, she unfortunately forgets the basic rule of combat which is that if someone is pointing a gun at you then you need to get out of range. She already knows that the toys are real so why stay in front of them like this? I thought the scene was a bit annoying because she had already taken down so many of them, only to freeze up at the absolute worst time. That was not the way to go about things, not at all. Big mistake on her part and it cost everything.

As the only real decent character here, Ralph’s a solid guy to root for. He has to deal with a whole lot and he’s a bit too naïve at times but at least he means well. Ralph does his best to protect Judy and while he is really slow on the uptake, it all eventually makes sense to him. I did think a scene near the end wasn’t handled well though as it comes across almost as if Ralph was trying to instigate the villains to attack him. Just go away while you’ve still got your life in tact. Why are you trying to make this into a bigger deal? I thought that was nearly a big miss for him so he got lucky…in that scene at least.

As for Judy, well you can cut her a lot of slack next to the other characters because she is still a kid. I’d say that has to count for something after all and she does try to talk to the toys a little. She did well in evading her father as well since that nearly got tricky for her. She does apparently lie a lot which is part of what makes this situation tougher for anyone to believe her so I like to think that her lying days are over now.

As for Gabriel and Hilary, I thought they were fairly interesting. They’ve certainly got grand ambitions but I wouldn’t say they are perfect ones. For example, if you’re trying to go the sympathetic route with them then shouldn’t they have more control over what the dolls do? They nearly bumped someone off who wouldn’t have been on their hit list all because the dolls have such a mind of their own.

By the end of the film it’s left fairly vague on exactly how this works. I assume the toys are on semi automatic where they work to accomplish the old couple’s goals but have some personality and control over themselves. If that is the case, I’d say that Gabriel and Hilary need to tighten the reigns just a bit or it’s going to go against their goals in the end. It sort of defeats the purpose if they’ll just destroy anyone who goes into the house. It’s an interesting dynamic though so it could be interesting to learn more about the villains some day.

At the end of the day what holds this film back is what holds most horror films back. It can be quite violent. Most of the deaths are definitely trying to be as gruesome and painful as possible. These dolls are absolutely not the kind of villains to give you an easy death. In part this is because of the size but expect to be shot and stabbed numerous times before going down. Each death takes forever and the way one of the girls dies is particularly gruesome as it’s like she is early on in the process of being a toy and so it all looks off with the eyes and everything.

Overall, Dolls is not really anything special in the slasher/horror genre. I dare say the dream near the beginning should have been real as it would have been such a crazy start to the adventure and would have switched things up. Realistically it wouldn’t have helped the score all that much though. I did appreciate the twist ending as it reminds you that some cycles are not too easy to break or stop. Things will just keep on happening over and over again. If this is your kind of film then you may as well jump on it but otherwise you can probably guess whether you’ll like the film or not right from the poster.

Overall 2/10

The Bedford Incident Review

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We’ve definitely got a real fun film with this one. When you’ve got all of the characters stuck on a boat for the duration of the film you definitely have to have good writing and a solid plot in order to keep things going. Fortunately this movie pulls that off without a hitch and so you’ll be having a good time here from start to finish.

The movie starts with Ben and Chester being brought to a navy ship to work under a rather controversial captain known as Eric. Eric’s fairly good at his job but the issue is that he tends to be rather obsessive. He can go too far in his duties to protect the ship and as a result he has not gotten a promotion despite having all kinds of medals and accomplishments. Ben is a reporter and so naturally he is curious about this while Chester is just trying to do his best as the ship doctor. Both of them don’t yet realize that this post will be tougher than they expect.

Right off the gate I do like how this film handles itself in terms of making the ship adventure fun. The limited amount of backgrounds and scenery are hidden by all the different camera angles and dynamic action taking place. You don’t have much time to feel like the characters are constrained because there is always something going on. There is never a chance to be bored or feel like the plot has slowed down.

I would say a lot of the credit to that goes to the Captain. Eric is a perfect antagonist, he’s not a villain or anything as he tries to do his job but antagonist is his role as the guy keeps getting in the way of the two main characters. He’s very set in his ways and is resistant to change. The guy gets extremely defensive for any kind of questions and really wants to be acknowledged as the master of the boat. All decisions go through him and that’s final. He pushes his men to the breaking point and resists all of Chester’s ideas for health and safety.

Eric seems to believe that any kind of healthy eating regime or exercise program would weaken his troops. That it would take their focus off of the mission and so he doesn’t support this. He wants them all to live and breathe the mission. After many years at sea with the crew, it’s fair to say that Eric has drilled this mentality into most of them. He’s borderline crazy but I just like the intensity that he brings to every scene. Eric knows that he’s right and everyone else is wrong. He never loses that mindset.

Meanwhile Ben does really well in his role as reporter. He starts things off by being amiable and working with Eric but as the captain starts to show him some disrespect, Ben quickly responds in kind. It’s clear that he’s not someone who will just let himself be pushed around. When he finally does get his big interview with Eric, Ben is quite direct with his questions. He knows that Eric has certain viewpoints on the government’s handling of the situation and works on backing him into a corner in order to get the guy to confirm this.

At the end Ben also stays in control much longer than the rest of the characters. Then you’ve got Chester who seems by all accounts to be a good doctor. He has some baggage in his past but there’s no indication that he has gotten worse at his job or is slacking off. His ideas are good but Eric completely ignores all of them. There just isn’t much Chester can do at that point since he has to go through the captain. He also ends up backing down when confronted which really sealed his chances of winning there. The only shot for him to have earned Eric’s respect would have been to stand his ground since the captain values toughness above all. It just wasn’t to be though.

The character roster is fairly small as these 3 are the main characters by far but then you’ve got two other supporting characters. First is Ensign who is a new recruit that means well but Eric is always really tough on him. Eric’s co-captain/friend tries to get the guy to lay off of him but it doesn’t work. Ultimately Ensign doesn’t let it get to him or at least tries to keep a tough front in spite of it. Then you have Wolfgang who is sort of an expert at giving us a view into what the enemy might be thinking.

That’s his role at least but I have major doubts on how good he is at it. I didn’t really think he helped a whole lot but at least he tried to tell Eric to back off. He was instigating the captain for most of the film though so I’d say it was too little too late by that point. Better late than never though.

The ending to this movie is really great though. For a little while you’re wondering if the film would actually go through with such a bold way of ending things but it does and I’d say that was a good thing. It may not be the happiest ending around but it does make the most sense based on how things were progressing. There was a lot of foreshadowing and given how Eric treats his men and the ship, it was all leading to this. Whether it happened now or later on, it was only a matter of time for an ending like this to take effect.

I’d say the film really reminds you of what a tough job it is to be in the navy as well. Either you’re a rank and file soldier who just has to keep following orders even if it sounds crazy or you’re a general that is still limited by the orders from above. The main difference is that you do have some power though and have to take responsibility for the result. No matter how you slice it, it’s just tough and you don’t exactly get a whole lot of time off here. These guys were stuck in the sea for long periods of time.

Overall, The Bedford Incident is a strong film that is carried by quality characters and really good writing. You’ll be very engaged the whole time because the movie is just really well made. You’re always at the edge of your seat wondering if Eric is right in pursuing a foreign ship so hard or if he really is crazy and taking everyone to their doom. Hindsight will be very powerful in this situation but what you do in the moment is most critical. I’d definitely recommend this flim to anyone that wants to watch a film about a lot of characters in a tense situation with no way out.

Overall 7/10

No Way Out Review

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Time for a film from a very long time ago. The title No Way Out has apparently been used quite a few times before and I can see why since it’s one of those titles where you can do a lot with it. I can see a bunch of them being literal but in this case I’d say it’s being more metaphorical like there’s no way out of the system.

The film starts by introducing us to Dr. Luther who has been gradually rising up the ranks in the medical profession. He technically has enough experience to be a doctor on his own by now but wants to stay under his mentor Dan for a while more. In part it’s because he still lacks confidence but it’s also in part because he has doubts that people will actually accept him. Discrimination was quite large there and Luther had to deal with it every day. His boss Dan helped to shield him from this to an extent but going off on his own could be difficult.

Well, his stay won’t be easy either as two criminals are brought in after getting shot. Luther tries to save one of them but the operation doesn’t go well and he ends up dying. The guy’s brother Ray believes that Luther did this on purpose and now has made it his life’s mission to destroy Luther. He’ll use every resource at his disposal from other family members to the entire gang at large. Luther will have to be very careful now as doom is around every corner.

A lot of the film is really about Luther trying to convince Ray that he didn’t murder the guy and the operation was correct. Unfortunately his boss Dan isn’t even fully convinced that the operation was needed which shakes Luther. For the record, Dan does still defend Luther and has his back the whole time but Luther wants to be sure even if it starts to put a strain on all of his relationships and even puts him in more danger. He even takes a gamble on being arrested to get the test to be done.

He’s definitely a solid lead who really wants to be a great doctor. I think this is a cautionary tale on why you sometimes have to know when to stop in trying to seek validation. As long as you know you did the right thing then you don’t need to worry about what the crazy bad guy is saying. Luther keeps his cool for the most part but that random moment where he went crazy at night and even turned on Dan was a bit much. Dan was in his corner for the duration of the movie without ever looking back.

Dan took no small risk in defending Luther at every opportunity. Whether it was behind closed doors in talking with his boss or at the front lines with the patients, Dan was always doing his best to help Luther out. He was just a great guy so that was the only scene that hurt Luther a bit. Not enough to stop him from being a good character or anything but it was disappointing.

As for the villain Ray, well he’s introduced as being an awful character right from the jump. His entire gimmick is that he’s super racist all the time and so from the start you’re not sure if he actually believes any of what he’s saying about Luther. Personally I think he’s just crazy enough where he might but of course that’s not really any kind of consolation. It just means that he is super delusional but as one of the big characters that unfortunately means he is going to be around a lot.

It’s mainly due to Ray that the ending isn’t very satisfying at all. I get the idea behind it and all but to me it’s just over the edge where I wouldn’t be trying all that hard to help out. I don’t think you have to finish the villain off or anything but you don’t have to do much of anything to help out either. It’s an admirable move by Luther so I don’t fault him for it but I would have handled the ending way differently.

There’s a bit of a subplot with Edie who gets roped into this and gets tricked by Ray into visiting the old gang and getting stuck there. I didn’t see much of a point to her character because ultimately she is not able to help Luther out by convincing Ray to let them dissect the body, nor is she able to do anything in stopping the gang. So it felt like there was no real contribution that she was able to make to the plot. She was sort of just around and I guess at least by the end she seemed to finally be free of the gang once and for all.

This is one film where the whole climax only happens because everyone suddenly forgets how to deal with prisoners though. So keep in mind that the cops are watching over a guy with serious gang ties who was in a shootout and has made it very clear that he wants to destroy Luther. The cop has himself handcuffed to the prisoner…why? It’s way more efficient to tie up both of the guy’s arms with the handcuffs. I don’t care that his leg wasn’t feeling so good, just cuff him normally. Well, the cop allows Ray to call in a friend and then stays behind as everyone else leaves the room. Now you just have the one guard with Ray and this “friend.”

Naturally the guard gets bumped off and Ray escapes but the whole situation felt incredibly contrived. Cmon now, you can’t convince me that the police would be this naive here. I was shaking my head as this all went down because it made no sense. Maybe you could try to convince me that this could happen if he was a nonviolent criminal or something but he was arrested as a fairly dangerous target from the jump. There should have been way more precautions.

One thing I did like though was how for once everyone didn’t just wait until the mob showed up to take everyone down. Instead the mob was jumped as the neighborhood they had been terrorizing for so long decided to get together and get the jump on them. I thought that was a nice change of pace because I was really not expecting that. It was great to see in part because of how unexpected it was but also because you have to defend yourself. At this point it was clear that the cops weren’t going to make it in time and nobody else was going to help so they had to make a move.

Overall, No Way Out is a very tense film to be sure. It does a good job of always maintaining that dangerous atmosphere where you don’t know how Luther’s going to get out of this one in one piece. The writing can also be solid but at the end of the day Ray is really annoying as the villain. The plot with Edie was also a big waste. She was around the gangsters before so she should have known better than to get involved again. There were so many ways to get around the situation or to handle it better and I’m skeptical that she would have gotten herself into so much trouble like this. Throw in the moment with Ray getting free and there were just too many moments like that. Ultimately I wouldn’t say the film is strong enough to hold its own with a lot of the classic titles and it’s not all that fun for a lot of its run. Without a satisfying ending to cap things off, I wouldn’t recommend this title.

Overall 4/10

Secret Reverse Review

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It’s always fun to see a manga creator make a story with the superheroes. This one’s sorta a manga but sorta a comic so I had to choose carefully what category to put it in. Ultimately I went with a comic since it does read left to right and it’s all in color. It’s a pretty fun story with a good amount of action and the artwork is naturally very high quality. Ultimately there’s a lot to like here and it would be cool if we could get a sequel or more stories in this continuity.

The story starts with Ironman heading to a big video game convention. It’s not really his thing as he prefers tech expos but he was invited and a big deal is that Kaioh has something which will change the industry forever. It’s an invention similar to Duel Monsters which makes solidified holograms with unlimited potential. Ironman is intrigued but unfortunately something has caused Kaioh to go crazy with power. Ironman will have to team up with the spectacular Spiderman in order to stop him. But is there someone pulling the strings behind Kaioh?

It’s fortunate that Spiderman was around to help because this probably would have been difficult for any one hero. Kaioh’s tech has a lot of versatility to it but for the most part he uses it like Doc Ock. He has the tendrils behind him to back him up during the fight and since they’re hologram based they can keep on changing. It makes for some really flashy battles and if this was a long running series instead of a oneshot, I suspect we would have seen a lot more monsters summoned.

Kaioh cracks pretty quickly so I wouldn’t say that I was a fan of the guy at all. He has no great ambitions and is pretty shortsighted with how he’s thinking about things. He has a cool design and is really smart but at the end of the day he lacks strength of will. The name is a nice homage to Kaiba but he lacks that guy’s cool points. If this had been allowed to be a true crossover and Kaiba was around I suppose they would have had to drastically change the plot.

Spiderman looks good here as he’s an experienced pro who gets the job done. The author does a good job of giving both Peter Parker and Spider-Man their due respect here. He’s not quite in the adult phase yet but you can tell that he’s no beginner. He gets his share of good quips and moments as well in there. Then you have Ironman who’s more of the main character here and he looks really good.

As Tony Stark he did well in bearing with the pain to hold onto the card for a full minute. That was impressive and he was able to stay in control so he didn’t attack any innocent civilians with his blast. Then as Ironman he quickly gets the job done with his attacks. This was a solid pair to choose for the two superheroes without a doubt. There are also some original characters here like Kaioh’s daughter but there isn’t really a lot of time for that. She was brave in getting the heroes to arrive and trying to talk him down though.

Then you have the actual alien and I thought the design here was really good. As for the being’s overall plans, it probably could have handled things a bit better. Shouldn’t you keep the tech on the downlow until you have everything in place? Showing it off at an expo just seems like you’re courting disaster here. That was his biggest undoing so I guess overconfidence got him in the end.

This is a oneshot so there’s no big cliffhanger or anything like that but that could have been a fun way to end things. Have different stories with each hero fighting more of these creatures which would eventually tie into some kind of big event. Or maybe you could do the reverse next time and have some Yugioh characters going up against a Marvel villain. That may even be a more interesting turn of events although it’ll be difficult to pick a villain strong enough to give those duelists a run for their money.

The art was really good as I mentioned earlier so the whole adventure really ends in the blink of an eye. It’s why we need more superhero stories like this with a manga touch to them. There are countless heroes and villains to choose from and all kinds of fun adventures to put them in. Hopefully this one ended up doing really well so we can get more of them.

Overall, Secret Reverse is a fun story. It’s a very direct superhero story with two heroes taking down the villain. Feels like a classic Marvel Team Up issue. Whether you’re a fan of the comics or just want to see an alternate reality of Yugioh in a way, then this is the title to check out. I do think Yami Yugi would make for a really solid hero if he was ever transported to Marvel/DC. There are tons of ways he could use his monsters for justice.

Overall 7/10

Samaritan Review

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It’s always nice to have another superhero film around. The more the merrier I say and this one’s fairly good. It feels a little low in stakes for the most part so it’s very much an old school origin story but it’s an interesting one and has good pacing throughout. I’d be interested to see this continue into a full series so hopefully it can keep on going. Definitely worth checking out on Amazon.

The movie starts by explaining to us the legend of the Samaritan and Nemesis. They were twin brothers who developed extraordinary abilities such as super strength and durability. They could not easily be injured and so one of them used their powers for evil while the other turned to good. Eventually after a fantastic battle they were both presumed dead but in the present many believe that the Samaritan still exists. One such believer is a kid named Sam who really looks up to this hero. Now he thinks that his neighbor across the street is actually the Samaritan. Is he right or is this all just wishful thinking?

I don’t blame the reporter for not believing Sam because apparently the kid tends to think a lot of people are the Samaritan. It’s the classic “Boy cried wolf” scenario that always tends to get in the way for characters like this. The reporter’s role is small but I look forward to him doing more in a sequel. He seems like a likable guy after all. As for Sam, he’s okay but I do wish the main character could have been someone a bit older. Kids can rarely hold their own plots as the lead and the whole time you wish you could see more of Joe instead.

Sam can fight to a degree and so I wouldn’t say he’s bad or anything. He stuck up for his friend when it counted and didn’t back down from the villains. There’s a solid moment when he punches out the main bully as well so I would give major kudos for that. But for every good moment like that, you have him being a thief or working with the villains. He was hard up for cash which led him to the wrong side but ultimately it’s still a choice that he made.

Now Joe is a solid character. He still helps out at times but prefers to stay to the shadows. Unfortunately that is also his weakness as I always have an issue with heroes just deciding to mind their business. As soon as they got their powers that just wasn’t a realistic option anymore. It may not seem fair but at this point he has an obligation to society and to keep on fighting. So being off the grid for so many years wasn’t good, particularly with how bad the town has gotten. It’s clear that nobody is in a good position right now and he could have easily made a difference. At least he eventually gets back into the action.

Cyrus is the main villain here and he’s okay. I mean he’s your average thug type but at least he doesn’t seem totally insane. He’s got an actual goal and isn’t the kind of guy to blow up his minions for no reason. I think if he could have gotten a true power bump and started flying around that would have helped him out. Still, I was satisfied with him. He doesn’t get a ton of screen time until the climax but makes his presence felt for sure.

Sam’s mother Tiffany doers her best throughout the circumstances and is a good supporting character. She’s suitably tough on Sam for some of his bigger mistakes without being too overbearing about it. She also does her best to protect him when the villains come around and so she definitely did her best. Ultimately there were just too many villains even if individually they weren’t too powerful. Sam punched out the main bully easily enough after all.

The fight scenes are fun but there aren’t any real threats for Joe to fight here. Even the main villain never appears to be a true threat if you ask me. There’s no point where you think Joe is going down. This may be the first film in the series but I think you can still put in a more powerful villain. Have the hammer amp everything up to a higher degree than just being an attack item would have worked for example. At least the movie still does have fun with the effects when Joe is punching everyone out. You have characters sliding across the floor and falling through the wall.

I’d also give the film credit for one solid twist in there. It’s not one I was expecting but then when it happens, it makes a lot of sense in hindsight. That’s the best kind of twist as it’s clear that the film did give you a fair chance with the various signs and I would say it was the right move. I thought it was very interesting and adds an extra layer to the film. It’s something that the sequel can build off of as well.

Throw in a real soundtrack and this movie would be even better. Surprisingly there just isn’t much music at all here so the film is often quiet. I suppose it’s going for a more somber approach but you should always find a way to put in some good tunes somehow. Trust me, they can enhance any film even if there aren’t a lot of action scenes. Ultimately this is a fairly grounded film so I’d call it a low key action title but it’s one that works well. I would certainly recommend it to any action fan.

Overall, The Samaritan is a quality film and one that was well made. I think it could have stood to be a bit more explosive but as far as origin stories go, it still does the trick. It’s hard to see this being the next big action franchise or anything like that but you never know. I’m always ready for more superhero films no matter what studio wants to do it. Hopefully if this does well then Amazon may think about turning it into a whole cinematic universe.

Overall 7/10

Green Lantern: Beware My Power Review

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Green Lantern’s really done well for himself. Getting 4 movies at this point is more than most heroes. Of course the main character does change as Hal was the main character in one of them, one was an anthology, and now this one is for John Stewart. I’d say the films have been solid and this is another good one to add to the pile. There may be some decisions made in the film that I thought were rather spotty but all in all this will fill the bill if you’re looking for a fun story and some fight scenes.

The movie starts off fairly quick as we’re introduced to John Stewart who is trying to lead a quiet life now. He was working with the army a while back and seems to have a little PTSD. Well, the quiet life is over as an alien crashes and as he disintegrates into nothing, gets John his power ring. He will now be the Green Lantern but unfortunately the ring doesn’t exactly come with a manual and it’s hard to get any long explanations out of it. One thing leads to another and Green Lantern finds himself aboard the Watchtower. The Justice League needs his help to find out why John got Hal’s power ring and they’re also going to need to stop a big intergalactic war. Guess Green Lantern won’t have any time to rest here.

So off the bat I do like the animation here. The colors are sharp and we get some solid fight scenes. The character designs are good and this looks like a modern movie all the way through. There were no cutting corners or animation cuts here. The soundtrack is a little more forgettable but I definitely wouldn’t call it bad either. It just could use a little more flair to stand out I’d say. The movie’s got good pacing as well and never drags on. I’d say the replay value in here is also considerable.

John Stewart makes for a very good Green Lantern. He does get the hang of fighting fairly quick. He may not be thrilled about the role but doesn’t let that stop him from helping the heroes out. They know that they can count on him and that’s the important part. Even when the league, particularly Green Arrow is always throwing shots his way, John doesn’t let it get to him. While the situation is all very grand, it never gets too big for him. I see John being a great Green Lantern for this continuity.

The Justice League itself isn’t too impressive right now so they need a lot of help. Of course the big 3 weren’t around so that’s part of it but without them the league is basically Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and Vixen. Arrow can’t fight a whole lot as seen when he shrugs at Vixen wordlessly asking him to help. Vixen is decent but her animal based abilities are never too impressive and Martian Manhunter is the only real power hitter on the team. Personally I think Green Lantern could take down all 3 of them if he really wanted too. They also didn’t do a good job of talking things out as they jumped right into action. I like to think Superman would have handled things differently here.

Green Arrow’s role is the biggest by far though. I think he talks awful big for not having any special abilities though. I like that they incorporated his friendship with Hal here as that’s mentioned a lot. I guess they’ve already been on a lot of missions by the time this film takes place. Once he gets to known John, Arrow stops being so aggressive but it’s telling that initially he’s more of a jerk.

While not a league member, we get to meet Hawkgirl later on and she’s definitely solid. Hawkgirl is always ready for a fight and is particularly bloodthirsty here. As a soldier she is ready to just destroy anyone who gets in her way, no questions asked. At times this gets in the way of basic strategy so I wonder just how good a soldier she really is. I suppose you can get away with a bit when you’re such a strong fighter though. I’d be cool with Hawkgirl joining the team later on, they could use an extra fighter like her.

Then there is Adam Strange who was a lot of fun to see. The movie takes a lot of queues from his classic comics even down to the laser blast that’s always hitting him. The whole thing is really crazy and I like how much he embraces this. Some characters would be depressed at this point while Strange takes it in stride for the most part. He’s certainly not happy about this but he makes it work.

Now for the parts of the film that were a bit weaker. For starters, I didn’t really care for this version of Sinestro. I can’t go into too much detail on it here without spoilers but he’s not the super confident leader that I’m used to. He has his moments and all but as the film goes on you start to get more nervous. The way it all ends just wasn’t a great look for him. Meanwhile I also thought the film removed too many big lore items considering how new this continuity is. Something happens on Oa that shakes things up and while it’s a bold move, I dunno about it.

Usually you want these guys around for the end game. Technically speaking Oa is always one of the big powerhouses in the universe. It’s not easy to infiltrate or take these guys out and it makes sense since one Green Lantern is already a planetary threat. Throw in a whole planet of them and anyone would have a hard time. The reasoning behind the mystery is something I can get behind but the big issue is that it leads to more power level issues down the road.

I like a good mystery and the film delivers on this but the answers just aren’t super satisfying. The villain here is apparently someone who’s good enough to basically take down a planet and that was before being heavily amped up. After that you should need someone like Superman to stop him. The way the film handles the climax is just on the cheesy side. The power levels were just too wonky to ignore because of how big the gap was. The film really would have needed to change the backstory of what happened to Oa if it wanted us to buy into this.

Also, the film does Hal Jordan dirty. I can’t go into more specifics on this either but it may even be worse than his appearance in Justice League War. (Which made him look really bad) This was a big mistake if you ask me. Hey the series definitely tried its share of risks, that’s for sure, but in the end it felt like they all just ended up backfiring here. The concept of the mystery is sound. A comic book, mystery movie sounds great and I was engaged with what was going on but of course the rule of thumb is always that a mystery is only as good as the resolution. Since the film didn’t really stick the landing, that hurt a bit.

If there’s something I would remove from the film it would be the PTSD subplot for John. I didn’t feel like it actually ended up really going anywhere. I suppose it helped him know not to cross the line at the end but I feel that’s something that could have happened anyway. It’s not like he’s usually a murderer or anything like that. If anything this makes him come closer and the plot just felt a bit random.

Now there are two scenes here where a hero murders a villain and characters get a bit shocked so I thought I would delve into that a bit. It’s well established that heroes should not murder villains. That’s a full stop there. The only times it works, not that it’s acceptable but where the hero won’t get too much backlash is if it’s accidental or a way he could not have predicted. Like Superman’s fighting a villain and his next hit happens to destroy the guy. Well, it’s Superman so that would be national news but you could get it. Or Superman tries to save someone but can’t hold on and the guy falls.

These aren’t cold blooded moments. Well, in this film both murders feel like that to an extent. The first villain dies because he took two leg shots and then a blow to the head. None of the blows even looked lethal so I remember being surprised that he died. The most shocking thing here was probably how the hero reacted but the murder itself just didn’t feel too crazy to me because this is a basic combo that you see people do. Batman’s done way worse and the villain survived. It’s something I’ve given some thought to in that it can often be hard to fight a villain and not destroy them by mistake. All the time you see heroes going all out and the villain keeps dodging blows that could possibly have been fatal. I’ll call it the Danger Room syndrome where everything works out for the best but it very well couldn’t have.

The second one is more of a full murder as the hero shoots the villain but was about to be murdered himself. So again…perhaps surprising to the rest of the heroes but it was a do or die moment so it didn’t feel too egregious. I’d make the case that neither murder was particularly cold blooded here. It did make for an interesting subplot to watch out for but it makes one twist a little too obvious so it felt like the film tipped its hand early. I guess the alternative would be not having any hints though so I totally see why it was played this way.

There’s not a whole lot more I can say about the plot since this is a mystery so the less you know the better. I can say that it’s an enjoyable ride all the way through though. Because the film is in a continuity, some of the decisions here will unfortunately affect future installments but be that as it may, there are still countless directions the films can go from here and I’ll be interested to see how it all pans out. This series has really been off to a fun start so far.

Overall, You’ll definitely want to check this film out. Technically speaking you don’t have to watch any of the other titles in this continuity to know what’s going on. As it is there appears to have been a massive time skip so either way everyone is going into this setting fairly fresh. This will likely be a very important film in the series though because presumably John Stewart will be appearing with the League in future installments so you don’t want to miss the origin. Plus, why miss out on quality fights and animation right?

Overall 7/10

Cellular Review

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This is one of those films with some fairly big names but I can’t remember ever seeing it anywhere. So it’s fairly obscure and I’d say the film turned out to be good. I’m not calling it great or anything but it was better than I expected. There’s a lot going on in here and it keeps this from just being another film about finding someone who’s being held captive.

The movie starts with Jessica getting kidnapped by a group of thugs led by Ethan. They want some kind of information in connection with her husband but she has no idea what they are even talking about. Fortunately while they may have broken the phone, she is able to repair the shards of it just enough to make calls. She brushes the cords together enough times until she is able to reach a guy called Ryan. He’s not really in the mood for any of this and figures it could be a trick either way. Still, he decides to humor her and eventually hears enough where he knows that this is real. It’s going to be difficult to get anyone to believe him though so it’s a race against time now.

Right off the bat I do think the whole plot is a tad convenient with the broken phone still being able to make calls. I mean the whole wires thing was creative but still I’m a little dubious about that being enough to actually get to a phone nearby. That random element just felt like the odds were a little too low for success and the whole movie is build around that premise. Beyond that the rest is believable enough and turns into your classic thriller film.

Ethan makes for a fairly intense villain. We don’t know a whole lot about him but you know enough to tell that he is serious about his threats. When it comes time for a fight he’s also a lot more skilled than the heroes but this isn’t really a full action movie which is lucky for them. There are a few other villains but none of them are quite as important for the most part. They definitely don’t get the same amount of screen time at least.

Unfortunately Ryan isn’t a great main character. I don’t blame him for thinking this is a trick at first. That part’s believable enough as this whole scenario is hard to buy into but he’s just not a very nice guy. He’s trying to get back together with his ex but when she gives him a basic task to complete…he gives it to his friend? How would that help his relationship with the girl at all? I feel like that plot didn’t make much sense and just confirms her suspicions on him not being very mature. It’s no wonder that they weren’t together anymore.

I suppose part of the film’s goal is to show how he gets more mature throughout the film but considering how short the time frame is here it’s hard to really say that. Being in the middle of a very stressful situation isn’t a great way to really see development after all. As for Jessica, well there’s not a whole lot that she can do either way so I’d say she did well enough. It’s not like getting captured was her fault and she fights well in trying to get out. So all in all I would give her character a thumbs up.

Her husband Craig looks awful though. His role is small but he basically got her into this whole situation and is not a reliable guy. I’d argue that he didn’t think ahead at all and he should have been able to warn her ahead of time. I did like Officer Mooney though. He’s getting ready to retire but when this situation comes up he figures he can help out one last time. He goes above and beyond the call of duty in getting mixed up with this when he could have just walked out into retirement. I have to give him some solid credit for that. He is quick with the trigger and isn’t an easy mark for anyone.

It’s easy to say that he’s the best hero in the film. I dare say he would have held up way better than Ryan as the lead. His plot has some intrigue to it as things don’t line up with the cops and it adds an extra layer of mystery to the whole thing. Ryan doesn’t have as much time to really dwell on this since he’s always on the move while Mooney is able to put the pieces together. Chad is Ryan’s best friend but the guy has almost no purpose being in the film. I guess the film has him try to be funny but it doesn’t work. Then there’s the ex Chloe who probably should have held her ground in staying away from Ryan. It’s clear that this guy is trouble.

The movie does have some decent comedy scenes like when Ryan broke into the phone company and flashed his gun. After how he tried so many times to do things peacefully, it was a good way to end that. Then I also liked that lawyer that Ryan bumped into. The guy may have been a bit exaggerated in how standoffish he was, but it made for some great moments. I’m a bit mixed on how the cell signals could just cross like that but I’ll assume it’s possible. It definitely helped to increase the stakes as well as the issue of not dropping the signal or Ryan would have no way to contact the lady again. Above it all though, the lawyer was just really funny in all of his scenes.

In a lot of ways the film is very by the books. The gimmick is unique with the whole cell phone angle but beyond that there isn’t much that stands out. I would say the thriller elements are exciting enough where this is a good movie even if it’s not great. I didn’t have many issues with it at all. The heroes could be a bit on the annoying side without a doubt (Ryan executed his final plan horribly. If not for Mooney he would have been doomed. Maybe choosing the park where everyone knows him was a bad idea…) but the pacing was quick and so the film glides by. It doesn’t drag on and so there’s a good amount of replay value. I’d be able to rewatch this one fairly quick even though I just saw it.

Overall, If you’re looking for a fun thriller movie that you haven’t watched before then this is a good one to check out. It’s a fairly light adventure that doesn’t feel high budget or anything but it doesn’t make mistakes either. I feel like a good amount of effort was put into this one and I’d be cool with a sequel or another film using this gimmick. I think there’s a lot you could do with it but I would find some other way for the main character to be contacted. A broken phone just doesn’t make a lot of sense for me.

Overall 7/10

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift Review

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I had quite a few issues with the first Final Fantasy Tactics game. I thought the whole laws system was pretty bad because it really disrupted the flow of the game and the penalty for breaking the law was too steep. You had to reset the game a whole lot. This game was evidently keeping the laws in so I was a bit concerned but fortunately it’s all been overhauled. My issues from the first game have all been greatly reduced. I won’t say the game is without issues but when you improve the gameplay, it stands to reason that the game itself will almost always be better.

The game starts with the main guy being pulled into the world of Final Fantasy. Now he has to try and find a way out but in the meantime he’ll meet some friends and try to stop some villains. It’s a classic save the world story where at the end you figure the kid will go back to Earth. Yes, this is virtually thee same exact plot as last time. I was surprised that there wasn’t a different angle here. If anything the main character has less character than last time so I would actually say that the plot is a bit weaker. Considering that you usually play RPGs for the plot as much as the gameplay, that was a bit of a heavy blow.

I wouldn’t say the story ever really gets to be all that engaging. There are a lot of sub plots thrown in like a treasure thief who is always rather crafty so you don’t know if you can trust her. Then you’ve got the mature right hand man who seems to have a shady backstory where he may have worked with the villain group. Some interesting tales in there but nothing that really stands out. It doesn’t help that the game uses a day system with tons of optional missions so after a wile it feels like most of the game is filler. There are 300 missions in the game but I believe less than 30 of them are actually the story ones.

The majority of these missions are dispatch types which you send out your minions to go and complete. As a result there is no story to be had in those. Some are hybrid missions where you could dispatch or beat in person. If you go in person I’m sure there would be some bits of story in there but why do that when you can send your minions off? It’s a lot quicker to do it as a dispatch and just walk back and forth to have the days go by so the mission is auto completed. Tactics gameplay is always long by definition so dodging battles this way is what you will want to do.

So lets talk about the gameplay. If you’re unfamiliar with tactical gameplay, the idea is to move all of your characters across the gameboard so they can either make it to the goal at the end or attack opposing players. Everyone has a set number of tiles that they can move across and then you either attack or use an item. You win when everyone is bumped off. When the level starts you can activate a bonus like extra power but a law will then appear and you must follow it. If you break the law then the bonus will go away for the rest of the match. This is a big improvement over how it used to be. In the first game if you broke the law then your character was sent to jail and you have to break them free which took multiple fights. You had to actually fight people in order to free the captive which was no good. It was such a big waste of time whenever that happened and it’s why you would ultimately just reset the game instead of going through all of that work.

So here the law system can actually be ignored entirely because losing the bonus isn’t a big deal. It’s also one less thing to worry about because the gameplay is super detailed as it is. For example, there is a class system here outside of the level ups and you can unlock new classes by fulfilling requirements. This is really difficult and I barely unlocked any by the end. It’s definitely not for the casual players but at the same time, you will then come to a real hurdle by the end of the game because the difficulty level just spikes up. I was barely able to beat the final boss and that’s mainly because I found a cheese strategy.

Basically the boss can’t see you if you’re far enough so you have to get just close enough to hit her with arrows. She will gain full health infinitely whenever she gets too low so the trick was to get her down to about 30% health and then rush her after her turn. This way you beat her before she fully heals. Otherwise I couldn’t find a way to get around that move. Also, aside from getting full health each time she would also put a lot of curses on your characters which really made things tough. Then there’s a second phase which was also intense. I’m not confident I could win again if I had to do a rematch since it came down to the wire.

Tactics gameplay feels very satisfying to win but also very annoying to lose because of how long each round is. I put many hours into the game as a result of how long it was. I definitely advise you to do as many dispatch missions as possible to level up your crew. Whatever you can do to get stronger for the final bosses is well worth it. You need to be strong if you want to clear it.

The graphics are okay, I wouldn’t say they really take advantage of the newer gen portable consoles though. This doesn’t look much different from the GBA game and there are no cutscenes here. You’d think that this game should have some nice looking cinematics by now but it wasn’t to be. The soundtrack is also more on the bland side. I couldn’t really recall any specific tune from the game because it’s all just standard fare. The kind of music you would have heard many times before but without a nice twist.

The game does have a ton of content to get through though so no matter what price you got the game for, it will be a fairly good deal here. Outside of the main plot there are a lot of side content missions and such to complete which will further extend the timer as well. There’s no way to really speedblitz through this game on your first shot so just enjoy the full experience and have fun. It is a game that was made with a lot of effort, that’s for sure. While the story may not be all that exciting, I appreciated that the game fixed a lot of my issues with the first title through quality of life features.

Overall, Tactics 2 is a big improvement over the first one. It’s still not ready to take on the mainline games or rivals like Pokemon, but I would be up for playing a third installment some day. Lets just get a different story in one of these days. This game was on my backlog for a super long time so it feels good to finally have this one completed. Now I’m one step closer to being fully caught up with the whole franchise.

Overall 7/10

Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 Review

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I had this game on my list for so many years before finally taking the plunge and buying it. The TV show wasn’t great to say the least but the series always had a lot of potential in video game format. How can you mess up a solid platformer experience right? In the end this one’s not great by any means and just goes through the motions but I would say it’s a smooth experience and a title you’ll want to check out.

The story starts with Betrayus plotting a whole new scheme. This time he really may take over the entire planet. Pac Man and his friends will have to try and take this guy down a few steps but when it turns out that Pac’s parents may be hostages that changes things. Pac will have to handle some fairly high stakes here and make difficult decisions but whether he makes the right ones remains to be seen.

The story’s definitely not going to be the selling point here. I mean it’s cool that the cutscenes are fully animated and all but at the same time it’s still going for the show’s vibe which is a comedy that’s not super funny. At times it can be just campy enough where it turns into being funny though. This may not be the proudest version of Pac Man for his fans but at least he’s a good kid at heart. If he was just a little smarter then things would have been easier for him. At least one credit you can give to the guy is that he’s always ready to jump into action.

There are 5 worlds here and each one has about 10 levels. Then you have challenge levels in most of the worlds and also a hub world where you can talk to people. So there’s a reasonable amount of gameplay here but I still wouldn’t call the game very long. I beat it in about 2 batches. Each level is bite sized so even though there are a lot of them, you shouldn’t have too much trouble here. At most the glitches might slow you down. I ran into level ending glitches 2-3 times where I was caught in an eternal death loop and just had to quit out. Another time I jumped far enough where I made it to the next checkpoint but I bypassed the power up I needed. So with no way to go forward or backwards I was just stuck.

I would say the gameplay is very smooth outside of the glitches though so you could say I just had a little case of bad luck here. The various power up forms do help to spice up the gameplay. I’m not a big fan of the magnetic form as I felt like it would just slow things down whenever it appeared but the rest are fun. The bosses all have actual strategies and unique features to them so those were handled well. You may even find yourself losing a life or two here and there.

You’re never in danger of a game over though as you accumulate lives faster than you can lose them. In that way I think the game was a little too generous. I’m sure it was aiming fairly young given how the story is but you could ramp up the game’s difficulty level just a bit if you ask me. The Platinum trophy looks easy to obtain though which I’m glad about. One day I see myself going back to this one to get that Platinum.

In terms of graphics I would say the game holds up well. It has a colorful atmosphere to it that just tends to age well. The character designs are good and the levels are on point. Then for the soundtrack it’s a bit limited but you’ll remember the songs from the show which is certainly nostalgic. The series really did well on a technical level, it just wasn’t able to ultimately seal the deal and that’s why it works better as a game. There is less to mess up you could say.

At the end of the day this is a fairly simple platformer and not one that you would buy over Mario and Sonic. That said, it is certainly a good game and if you can find it for a good price then it’s worth it. I’ll never forget seeing it compared to Mario Galaxy way back in the day. I wouldn’t say this one is quite as good and polished as Mario but it’s a platformer that should be able to hold its head high. Throw in a more engaging story and I dare say it could have really started to do some numbers. At the end of the day the story just wasn’t super engaging here.

Overall, Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures is a period in time that is pretty much forgotten at this point. Now Pac has gone back to his roots with the World series and I don’t see the Ghostly Adventures ever playing much of a part again. I’m afraid that this era is probably completely over and technically that’s a good thing. It would have been nice if we could have gotten just one more game to end the saga though. That would have been enough to tie everything together instead of the loose ends. I suppose you can always imagine how it would have played out though.

Overall 7/10