Deja Vu Review

Posted on September 29, 2014 by dreager1

I know that some like to spell “Deja” with a few symbols above the letters, but I prefer to just write it out like this. The title can already tell you that this is either the next Groundhog Day or it’s going to involve time. I can safely say that it’s the latter although it’s a bit of a trick question since Groundhog Day did involve time. It’s a decent film, but I am hesitant to say that it’s much more than that. The film doesn’t really end up leaving a big impact on you. You watch it…and it’s gone. (Like Battleship)

The plot involves special agent Doug as he tries to solve a case before it even begins. A terrorist attacks a ship and destroys over 500 people in the process. Nobody knows who did it or where the person went, which is where Doug comes in. Doug is the first person to confirm that it was a terrorist attack and he is then brought on to the elite squad. With the use of satellites, they can watch just about any spot on the planet as of 4 days ago. So, they can wait 4 days to see who did it, but it may be too late by then. Moreover, there is no rewinding available so they need to be able to identify the person right away. The plot thickens when Doug finds out that another person was murdered prior to the explosion and thrown into the ocean to make it appear as if the person was just another victim. Doug is now personally invested in this case and he’s ready to solve this case. Now, what if there is more to this satellite technology than meets the eye? What if Doug can stop the crime before it starts? That’s when the real film begins!

Well, the satellite thing is actually pretty scientific. I recall reading about it recently that at least 4 satellites are typically trained on the area. From there, it gets a little hazy since I don’t really think that the satellites would typically be able to look through buildings and get clear 1080P footage while you’re in a dark alley at night. It’s certainly possibly in theory though and it’s interesting to think about. If our government actually had perfected the tech to this extent though, the world would either be a really good place or our civil rights would be even more dismantled than they currently are. (America is still one of the best at protecting us though) Things get more than a little hazy once they start explaining about how you can actually look at the past with the satellites. That means that it’s fiction time!

I do give Doug credit for deciding to change the past while the others said that it wasn’t possible. If time travel was actually possible, then I definitely think it could be altered. The two events go hand in hand. If you can go back in time, then you can change it. If not, then time and the events within it are simply unchangeable. That’s always been my stance on the matter.

Doug is a decent lead. He definitely wants to solve the case and he’s ready to do whatever it takes to succeed without doing anything that’s really unheroic. This is the kind of character that you could call a little generic and get away with it. There’s nothing about him that really stands out and he’s only decent in a fight. His final stand off against the main villain was actually pretty bad since he was on the defensive the whole time. One could argue that his end is also a little tragic and not what you would expect while others can argue that it had to happen due to the plot. I dunno, I think he could have put in the extra effort and just moved to the Hotel California to avoid any missteps.

Claire is the main heroine and a lot of bad things happen to her in a very short amount of time. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a whole lot of street smarts. She gives away her home address to a random guy over the phone that wanted to buy her car. If you’re going to sell a car to someone, at least arrange to meet in a busy section that has a McDonalds. (Or a sports bar, since the guys inside can definitely fight) Her second big mistake is to open the door when she hears a sound outside. First rule of living in any area is that you never open the door unless you know exactly who’s outside. (And you should recognize their tone to know if they’re being held at gunpoint. Although, there’s not much you can do at that point) So, that was a really rough start for her and that leads to the events that transpire afterwards. She’s a decent character overall, but negative things happen to her left and right. She can’t really find any peace at this rate. This also means that she doesn’t get a whole lot of time for character development and the romance is pretty non existent. (It’s pretty one sided until the end where it’s probably both ways, but still rushed)

Oerstadt is the terrorist in the film and he’s as crazy as you may have expected. I doubt I’ll ever like a terrorist character in a film and that’s a good thing. Films shouldn’t even try to make them sympathetic or likable since they’re just bad people when it all boils down to it. Oerstadt is certifiably insane as he wants to murder everyone to show the United States that they need more patriots. He wants them to wake up and start controlling the world since they have the power. Instead, Oerstadt is woken up to the fact that he didn’t think this through and that his only escape options are death and life imprisonment. Not the best set of options right?

One of the complaints that I would have with the supporting characters is that they can be slow on the uptake. Take Doug’s partner. He gets a message informing him that a terrorist is going to blow up the boat so he heads there to stop him. He sees the guy get into the van so he runs towards him. “Stop….Stop…hands in the air” is basically what the agent says. The guy just takes out his gun and shoots him…..eh? When you’re dealing with a terrorist, you quickly let everyone know and you don’t just walk up to the window. At the very least, shoot all of the wheels so that the guy can’t escape. Then, don’t go in front of the window so the shot will at least be a little more difficult. This guy was an agent so I’m sure that he’ll have enough connections to inform the NSA that something’s up.

The film is also pretty gritty. The main heroine’s plight is pretty serious and the partner’s demise is also pretty gruesome. The film shows the aftermath of the terrorist attack and it’s grim as you would expect. They don’t want to make light of such a situation, but these three scenes are still not really any fun. The heroine’s plight happens twice. The first one is off screen and then we see part of the second until the guy is interrupted. That was good at least, but it’s still a bit much since we know what would have happened.

Finally, this film actually has some fanservice, which is a definite no no. I wasn’t really expecting any since I’ve actually gotten lucky on that angle recently. Most of the films that I’ve seen have actually stayed away from that angle. Not here. Doug and his co-workers decide to spy on Claire through their super satellites to see what happens and they definitely take a while to turn the camera. They’re spying on her constantly and that is decidedly unheroic. It’s okay when she’s in proper attire, but they should otherwise change the view immediately. Not a good move “heroes!”

There’s not much of a soundtrack of course. Luckily, that was to be expected here. We had a bit of a red herring involving the main agent in charge since he acts incredibly suspicious the whole time, but his plot never amounts to anything. At least it gives the viewers something to think about. His role is very small and I still wonder if the writers just forgot about him.

Overall, Deja Vu is a pretty standard film. It does end up losing some extra points for the gruesome violence and the fanservice though so it ultimately becomes a little sub par. The main character wasn’t bad and I always like a good time travel story, but the film just wasn’t terribly exciting or interesting. You sort of want to find out what’s going to happen, but you’ll find yourself to be pretty detached from the current events. It’s hard to really get into what’s happening and you could say that it’s a bit of a negative. A film should really keep you on the edge of your seat. An example of this is the big car chase scene. It’s a fun concept, but it’s not as thrilling as you would expect. Maybe the cars just weren’t going fast enough or it’s because I already saw Need For Speed. Well, I wouldn’t really recommend this one and I think you’d be better off watching The One for parallel universe explanations.

Overall 4/10

Hide and Seek Review

Posted on September 29, 2014 by dreager1

Please note that this review is of the edited TV 14 version of the film. All of the writing below should only be addressed to this particular version as the uncut one would likely get an even lower score or the review would just be more negative.

It’s really no stretch to say that horror films are my least favorite genre. Even romance or comedy films tend to have more heart to them. Of course, there are likely some genres that could go under horror if we really went drastic. (Infinite categories out there. Kaiju films, Space Kaiju Films, Undergeround Kaiju films, etc.) War Documentaries would be pretty close to horror films, but I barely count documentaries as films as it is. A regular War film would still be applicable though and we can’t forget about Zombie films. (Even though they would likely count as horror) I can safely say that this film was even worse than the average horror and it goes to Sucker Punch levels of bad. Can you say a 1 for effort? Let’s see what it did wrong.

First, we need to try to remember the plot that all horror films have. A guy and his daughter decide to move to an abandoned area on the outskirts of New York after the mother dies. Unfortunately, strange things begin to happen. Is the House haunted? Is the Dad crazy? Is the Daughter Possessed? Are there Demons hanging around? Zombies? Ghosts? Plot Holes? Take your pick and then get ready to cringe through the background plot as you await the chills and thrills. The body count is pretty low for most of the film, but the ending decides to quickly change this as the film becomes your average slasher. I definitely got some “I know what you did Last Summer” vibes from the ending since it’s fairly similar. (Then again…I could say that about most horror films!) The main characters are certainly in trouble so this could get deadly.

Well, the cast is pretty small in this film. That’s probably a good thing since most of the characters would have been pretty bad anyway. The main character is Mr. Callaway. I dare say that he’s slightly worse than the average lead for a horror film and that’s saying something. He’s pretty unstable and you don’t know what to expect from him. One second he’s a professional on the mind so he can out psych the daughter through her issues and the next second he’s panicking and running away from her. He needs some more training to say the least. Once the murders begin, he decides to cover them up instead of reporting it to the proper authorities and he’s definitely outmatched against Charlie. There aren’t any likable qualities to Mr. Callaway, but he’s not the only terrible character.

Did I mention that Charlie gets a big role in the film. He’s just as unlikable as Mr. Callaway. He likes to play games and it’s heavily implied that he has super speed or invisibility. He probably has dozens of other powers since horror films like to make their villains unstoppable right? Well, Charlie definitely doesn’t have what it takes to be a cool villain. His character design is pretty awful and he’s also fairly weak so he has to rely on tricks and surprise attacks to win his fights. He certainly didn’t help the film.

Emily is the daughter and she doesn’t help the film. She spends most of it being pretty distant and refusing to talk until she meets Charlie. She did just go through a pretty traumatic accident so we can sympathize with her, but it still doesn’t make her an enjoyable character to see on screen. She’s typically a downer. We find out that Emily does try to help out at certain points and she does well during the ending, but she’s still not what I’d call a very good character. She did have some opportunities to quickly end things although I’m sure that it could have backfired since most of the other characters are slow on the uptake.

We have the Sheriff who looks pretty terrible throughout the film. He wanders into the house during the climax and he knows that there has already been a murder. (More than one, but he only knows about one) So, he goes into the room and the lights turn off. He panics and runs towards the basement…that doesn’t end well. Should I mention that he never even reaches for his gun? This guy must be super confident to be walking into closets and constantly giving his back to every direction.

Catherine is another major in psychology and she proves to be more proficient at it than the main character. She doesn’t get a huge role, but this is a slasher so she does make sure to grab a gun and get involved in the climax. She looks downright terrible during most of it, but she finally gets to land a good hit in the end. She’s easily the best character in the film and it’s too bad that she couldn’t have gotten involved sooner. At least we had one pretty good character right?

We also had some supporting characters that had no point in the film except to be red herrings. So that I don’t spoil which one is the red herring, I shall quickly name 4 side characters. Apologies if it’s obvious who the red herring is, but this isn’t exactly Inception! We have the neighbors Laura and her husband. Laura’s a little overly friendly and she constantly goes to the house while her husband hangs around outside and meets up with the daughter. There’s also another acquaintance who has a daughter and they decide to visit the house as well. It should be noted that both neighbors as well as the mother look pretty much identical and I was wondering if they decided to save the budget by having one actress portray all three. Let’s face it, this film didn’t get a big budget!

Well, that’s basically the cast. If this doesn’t sound like a 1 star film yet, then you have not seen Man of Steel! (Man of Steel’s awesomeness in comparison should show you that this is basically a one star film) One of the numerous negatives in this film is the classic animal violence. Every horror film has it so this one quickly includes it as well. Let’s just say that it’s a cat this time and it’s as sad as you may have expected.

This is a slasher so you can expect a lot of gratuitous violence as well. We get the blood bath tub that seems to be featured prominently in all of the 18 and up slashers. It’s really their calling card I suppose. Other people get slashed and we even have doll violence where the dolls are so grotesquely broken that you have to wonder if it’s even possible. One of the characters really crushes one of them in the span of a few seconds. Sort of like Attack on Titan, this film helps to show us that too much violence can just water down the story.

This next negative is probably a given, but the film is also a downer. There’s a happy ending at the end of course, but it only gets about a minute of screentime while the other events take up the rest of the film. You would have more fun watching the Broncos get blown out of the Super Bowl again and I have to say that the game was pretty painful. (I was rooting for the Broncos) There aren’t any scenes that will make you cheer or even any that will make you smile at all. The whole film is devoid of enjoyment or entertainment.

The final plot twist is pretty generic and not in a good way. Of course, I would have said that the twist was generic if it had ended up being one of the other twists that I had labeled in the beginning. All of those are just stale at this point so none of them are surprising. As expected, the film chose the worst one of the group since that is just continuing with the film’s history of bad choices. The only twist that could have been worse would have been if the red herring was the actual villain because of the plot holes and the idea of such a threat. Nonetheless, this is still a pretty awful second and it didn’t do the film any favors. I should also mention that the film tries to be deep and complex by having a subplot filled with flashbacks and a mysterious waking at 2:06 every morning, but that won’t stop you from snoozing throughout the film and checking your watch.

“Hey, you forgot the positives!” Actually..this film had no positives. It’s one of those films that doesn’t even need to exist. It just takes all the worst tropes of your average horror film and throws them together. On that note, you could say that the film is even worse than Sucker Punch since the other film at least had action scenes, but the worst scenes in Sucker Punch are probably worse than the worst ones here so it’s a dicey showdown. Either way, this is a film that you really just want to see panned by critics and smashed at the Box Office.

Overall, Hide and Seek is as bad as the title would suggest. You’d have a much better time playing Hide and Seek in a one room apartment during the afternoon. I usually give a quick recap of the positives and negatives in this paragraph, but the whole review is basically made up of the negatives so you probably still remember them. This goes without saying, but I strongly recommend staying away from this film. (and horrors/slashers in general) If you want a classy film that’s still pretty scary, I would recommend the 4th Bleach film or even playing a level in Luigi’s Mansion. In the meantime, you’ll be spared from watching this film. Thus, saving you at least 100 minutes of your life that you can use towards racking up trophies on your PS3.

Overall 1/10

Key Largo Review

Posted on September 29, 2014 by dreager1

Bogart and Bacall get to team up once again, but this is easily their weakest adventure. I had a feeling that something wasn’t right when I noticed that the name, Robinson, was between Bogart and Bacall. That’s not how it’s supposed to go right? This is definitely a classic 40s film and it’s still 6 years before the first Godzilla film, but something went dreadfully wrong. The film just moved away from some of the things that made the first few films so good.

Frank decides to pay his army friend’s father a visit as he travels down to the Key Largo section. The hotel is apparently closed, but the father seems happy to see him and Frank gets to meet his pal’s wife. They talk about the friend and what a good guy he was before he finally died in the war. There are a few shady characters in the hotel, but everything else seems to be all right. Some Indians are also around and they plan to turn themselves in for the good of everyone. They leave and prepare to do so later. That’s when the shady fellows decide to make their move and they take the hotel. Everyone has become their hostages now and they’ll all have to weather the hurricane together. There is a lot of tension in the air!

Well, this film definitely didn’t do it for me. For one thing, Bogart typically plays a hardcore lead who loves to mess with everyone. That’s not Frank in this one. Frank is still heroic and he’s a tough guy, but he doesn’t really talk back to the villains. He’s more of a subdued character who is tired of fighting and he’s ready to call it a day. He does make a lot of good moves like not falling for the empty gun trick, but he’s not as exciting as you might expect. Now, I’m not saying that Frank’s a bad character. He’s still a good lead and I agree with most of his moves. He doesn’t even get distracted by romance this time. He’s just not very exciting and he would make for a better supporting character if anything.

Nora is the main heroine and she’s the kind of character that a modern film could portray a little better. (Which is pretty rare) She tries to be tough when needed, but she just doesn’t look very good. She attacks the villain on two occasions, but she’s completely overpowered without doing any real damage. She’s a good character, but not one that is very enjoyable to see on screen since you know that she’ll just be defeated. I can’t say that this is Bacall’s best character to portray either. Nora just needed to get some sort of weapon to make things a little more interesting.

Johnny Rocco is the main villain and he’s about as unlikable as you would expect. He’s always chewing on a cigar or taking a bath. He’s not very bright and Frank makes fun of him from time to time. The only reason why he lasts so long is because he has a gun at the ready. There’s not much else to say about him. He’s just your average gangster who has a lot of minions who could technically beat him in a fight, but are afraid to do so. He’s easily the worst character in the film.

He’s got a handful of minions. One of them tends to laugh a lot while the other one likes to talk or grab a drink to ease the tension. A lady is along with the gang and she’s completely hooked on beer. She seems a little out of place with the group since she used to be a singer and everything, but she went down the wrong path. We’ve also got the Indians whose bond with the father is broken thanks to these circumstances. The cops don’t look too great as one of them is really slow on the uptake while the other one was quickly blindsided. The father of the dead friend really tries his best to keep on believing that the villains will be defeated, but he’s in a wheelchair so he’s not really in a position to fight. He does try though and it can be pretty sad to watch. It’s too bad for the guy since he had a pretty peaceful life up until that point.

One of the big things that hurt the film was that it’s just not very fun. We don’t get any of the witty banter that we have gotten used too in the other titles. Sure, Frank messes with the villain a little, but it can barely be called banter since it’s completely one sided. None of the characters are as charismatic as their older counterparts either. It’s a film where you are actually going to check your watch to see if it’s almost over.

The villains also get away with too much as you may have expected. The cops may be on the way, but it’s a little too late since one of the characters is already taken out and the hotel is basically ruined. Frank gets his big fight at the end and it’s good that he finally went on the offensive, but it definitely took a while. The main heroine’s attack that backfired is also another reason why the film was pretty doomed. It’s just another unnecessary scene to show off how “tough” the villain is. He’s pretty fat and he doesn’t work out so I don’t think he’ll be too strong. At the very least, it should be more of a fight. The Indians also get the short end of the stick here since their end isn’t very happy either.

There isn’t much of a soundtrack here. They squeeze in a song as per usual, but I can’t say that it was anything great. To be fair, I don’t think films really got good music until the 80s, although there are likely a few exceptions scattered about. There isn’t much scenery to look at either since most of the film takes place in the hotel. Not a lot of variety.

Overall, Key Largo lost the charm that the other team up films had. This one just isn’t fun to watch. We don’t have the epic banter and no fight scenes until the very end. The cast is also filled with mostly unlikable or bland characters. There’s no real romance this time, but the film was pretty sunk without it. If you’re looking for a classic (Pre Godzilla) film to watch, then I would recommend The Big Sleep instead. That one is a good example of how you should make a classic film. At least there wasn’t any animal violence here!

Overall 4/10

Championship Foosball Review

Posted on September 25, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for another game review! “2 in one day…that’s insane!” That may be the case, but this game is only around 30 minutes long…maybe less. It was easy to quickly complete it and then get back to you guys with this review. It’s the latest game from the infamous 5 dollar bin and it really holds up well to the hype….sort of. This isn’t the kind of game that you should expect to keep you busy for a while. It’s a short experience and it’s not spectacular. Let’s see how it really fared!

There’s actually not a whole lot to say about it. There’s no plot of course. When you begin the game, the main menu is rather empty. You have your standard exhibition battle against a CPU or another player and then you have the tournament mode. There’s also a tutorial mode that features a lot of “Challenges” to help you learn the game. I always skip tutorials unless there are trophies involved so I ran for the tournament. The tournament has about 5 rounds and each one is a best 3 of 5 games set. Each game requires you to win 5 points. So, that sounds like it should stretch out the game right? It better because there’s nothing else to do!

Do you guys remember Table Soccer or Foosball? If not, I’ll quickly explain the gameplay. You are using Soccer rules, but on a small table. So, your players are tied to a line. 3 on 1, 3 on another, and so on. You get around 3-4 lines. You just have to kick the ball into the opponent’s net. Sounds easy enough right? Well….

The game actually gave me a bit of a tough time at first because this is the kind of game that is tough on the Wii Remote. Let’s face it, AAA games have trouble utilizing it so would a 2 dollar, low budget game really be able to refine the controls? I didn’t think so! Turning the guys on the field to hit the ball can be very difficult. I lost the first match because of this and it looked like the game was going to be surprisingly difficult. Luckily, I quickly realized that the 1 button was the key to success. Just hold B and spam the 1 button for the entire match. It allows all of your players to perform an infinity kick so you just need to keep moving and only worry about kicking the ball. This easily made me breeze through the championship. That being said, it’s pretty hard to land a sure goal. The ball moves incredibly fast when you hit it and you just have to keep on smacking the ball as you run up and down to eventually try and score. Your eyes will probably not be able to keep up. That part was actually pretty intense since that’s a pretty good feat for the game’s speed. I’m not sure if it’s because of all the colors flying around or the speed, but it’s still pretty cool.

The graphics are decent, but they aren’t great. The humans look downright terrible and this could give Balls of Fury some competition there. Luckily, the actual gameplay is pretty sharp and it’s what you would want from a Foosball title. The colors around the ball when it’s shot look pretty good and you really feel like you’re in the game. It’s rather surreal and it can be pretty enjoyable to watch a match. There isn’t really a soundtrack so it automatically loses points in that area.

Overall, it was actually difficult deciding if I should give this game a 4 or a 5. See, the game still does have multiplayer mode and the gameplay really wasn’t that bad once I found out about the 1 trick. I’d actually say that the gameplay is downright fun, but I lot of it almost feels like chance because of how fast it is. These are decent reasons to give the game a 5. On the other hand, the game was basically over in 30 minutes and then there is nothing else to do. There are shirts and stuff to unlock, but they don’t make much of a difference. In the end, the lack of replay value ended up hurting the game and I went with the first score. 30 minutes is way too short for any game, even if you do count multiplayer. It’s not as if this is the next Super Smash Bros! I think you could have some decent fun with this game if you’ve never played Foosball before, but the sport definitely has the potential to be a much better game. Once the novelty is worn out, the game loses its charm. You will be better off just getting Madden 15 or the latest FIFA….choose Madden. I would still consider this game to be a success for the 5 dollar bin though. Simply because it was pretty fun and a good way to spend 30 minutes on a rainy day. (It was literally raining the whole day while I was playing! It’s still raining right now I believe)

Overall 4/10

Muramasa The Demon Blade Review

Posted on September 25, 2014 by dreager1

Muramasa is a game that I’ve had on the backlog for quite a while now. Luckily, I’ve been on a Wii roll lately so this game was bound to pop up sooner or later. Part of the reason why is took so long is because it was also easy to forget that I had the game. Well, no more of that! I can safely say that I won’t be forgetting this game anytime soon and it was a pretty fun title. You can tell that a lot of effort was put into it.

There are two stories to choose from in this game. You can play as Momohime or Kisuke. I opted to go for the Kisuke story and I may go back to do the other one someday. It could be a while until that happens though. Kisuke has lost his memory and all he remembers is that he’s a world class swordsman. Everybody that he meets calls Kisuke a traitor and that’s not very cool. Kisuke eventually starts to regain his memories and the stakes have definitely risen. If he doesn’t stop the big boss, the planet may not make it out in one piece. Kisuke will have to struggle to completely regain his memories as he gets ready for the ultimate showdown. After all, he doesn’t want to pick the wrong side!

The gameplay can be pretty fast paced. Picture your average Mario or Sonic side scroller except that you have a sword. You go from area to area, striking down any opponent that gets in your way. It’s pretty rare to have a side scrolling slasher and this game does a good job with it. You can unleash some pretty cool combos on the ground or in the air and each sword that you possess has a unique special ability. The combat system is pretty fluid and I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more games with this style.

You are allowed to carry three swords at one time. I recommend going for the 3 strongest ones, but don’t forget to watch out for speed as well. Some swords also have passive special abilities that don’t damage the enemy, but perform more useful tasks. (Like extra EXP) In any game that has a level up system, always look for the EXP boosters. Trust me, that advice has helped me through every RPG and I don’t think that it’ll stop now. Defeating enemies and eating food gives you spirit energy which you can combine with spirit power to make new swords. This is highly recommended since the swords really make all the difference against opponents. It’ll make your battles nice and quick. Some swords are not available even after you buy them because you have to gain some more levels to use them. Don’t worry, it’s still worth it!

Aside from your health bar, you’ll have three others to worry about. They belong to your swords. When one goes down, the sword will temporarily shatter and you’ll be defenseless. It only takes about a minute or two to come back together, but that can be a dangerous amount of time. It’s important to switch up swords whenever possible to keep all three of them in top condition. Also, switching will allow you to get a free area hit once in a while which is useful. (Area Hit = Attack that does damage to all opponents on the screen)

The soundtrack for the game is pretty solid. The boss themes are decently memorable and they’re pretty fast paced to match the gameplay speed. It’s not an all star selection of themes, but it’s certainly above average. The graphics are mainly using sprites and they do look rather dated, but I suppose that it’s just the style. This game would be more comparable to an indie game than a AAA title, but it was made to be like one I suppose. I’m not sure how long ago it came out, but it’s about GBA level in terms of graphics. It’s easy to watch though and that’s the important part. I never considered the graphics to be bad or anything like that.

There is a lot of replay value in this game and it’s one of Muramasa’s strong points. As I mentioned, I was impressed with the depth of the game. The combat system is very well done and it’s the kind of game that makes you want to keep on playing it. Unlocking all of the swords is a pretty fun goal to have while also taking down all of the secret bosses. The level up system isn’t too easy, but it still moves fast enough for you to feel like you really have a chance at reaching Level 99. I made it up to 30, which is pretty decent. Typically, you beat the game with a level in the 40s or 60s, but I’m fine with 30. It’s also possible that the maximum level is 50 and not 100, but I wouldn’t be so sure about this. We also can’t forget that the game has a second story, which instantly doubles the content as well as a secret ending to attain once we beat the game with both characters.

That being said, this game isn’t perfect or it would have gotten a higher score. What is stopping it from getting 9 or a 10? One of the areas where I believe the game could have greatly improved is the travel area. You have to walk from area to area constantly. Act 1 may take place in one land and then Act 2 will take place halfway across the globe. Since each area can have around 15-30 rooms in it, it takes a very long time to get to where you want to go. One also has to consider that many rooms have enemies that you must defeat before you move on. They respawn so you can’t just win once and hope that they’ll be gone on your next travel. Once you beat the game, you are allowed to warp from shrine to shrine, but that should have been implemented from the get go. You should be allowed to warp to shrines that you have already passed. That’s how it works in most games like this and the only reason I can think of for now allowing it at the beginning is to extend the journey.

The game took me around 5 hours to complete, but it would be closer to 4 or a little below that without all of the excess travelling. It’s hard to say for certain because I would likely have still needed to grind out a few levels ups before the boss, but I would have saved some time. This could be a way for the developers to make sure that the player gets to a decently high level, but they underestimate the gamer. We are always prepared for the ultimate foes and grinding is simply how you do things here. We are all prepared for such an adventure.

One other part of the game that I wasn’t crazy about was the jump mechanics. I’m not sure if this is the Wii Remote’s problem or the game, but it’s really hard to jump from tree to tree. Jumping up and down is easy, but trying to land on a small spot sideways is tough. The controls are just a little too sensitive and you’ll keep overshooting the goal. This doesn’t matter all that much because you never have to make precision jumps, but it makes gathering the souls a little more time consuming. It’s a rather small qualm, but I still felt it was worth mentioning. Overall, the Wii Remotes did a pretty good job with this game. Nothing beats the GC type of controls, but it performed well enough.

Kisuke is the main lead and he definitely reminded me of Kirito/Rin Okumura a lot. The blue color scheme for his sword and the personality certainly helped matters as well. He’s a pretty good hero for the most part and he’s someone that you can root for. He definitely falls into the romance part a lot towards the end and his final act is pretty awful. He doesn’t have the greatest ending from your average hero, but he’s still a good character through and through. He’s not an all star, but he’s better than what you would expect for the main character of a game.

The Princess is pretty tough and it’s good to see that she can fight. That’s always the first step towards becoming a likable character. Her horse makes for a great ally and it would have been fun to have played as her. She’s another solid character, but her fight record is pretty bad in the game. She usually ends up getting defeated by the powerful foes.

Those two are really the only characters that get a lot of development. We have a helpful fox lady and a fox who watch over the heroes. They’re pretty nice and definitely an improvement over the all powerful being at the end. She didn’t stop Kisuke from making his big decision! The villains mostly pop out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. The final boss had a pretty cool super form where he turned into a dog, although the sprite didn’t look very real since it was so big. We also had an intense Spider Kaiju and a Dragon. The bosses were nice and varied so I have no qualms against them. The Princess’ allies are pretty weak though. They’re always knocked out or on the ground as they beg Kisuke for help. So much for the guards!

Overall, Muramasa was another obscure game that turned out to be pretty great like Oni or Eve of Extinction. It’s one of the reasons why I continue to scour the 5 dollar bins or even work my way up to the 10 dollar ones. You never know what gems you’ll find hidden in the rough. This game had a great combat system and it was just a lot of fun to play. It’s a game that has a lot of replay value and you’ll never feel bored with it. In that sense, it’s like playing one of the older Mario or Mega Man games. It brought me back to the Gamecube years and beyond. It would be great to see this game get a sequel and I would certainly be ready for it. I recommend this game if you like 2D swordfighters or if you’re just looking for a fun adventure. You can’t go wrong here.

Overall 8/10

Sailor Moon Review

Posted on September 24, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time to review a pretty legendary manga in the form of Sailor Moon! If DBZ is the most popular Shonen manga of all time (Mildly debatable I suppose since One Piece tops it in sales, but DBZ basically invented the industry and nobody can forget it!) then Sailor Moon is the most popular Shojo title. It revolutionized the manga industry as we know it and they recently came out with the new Sailor Moon Crystal anime to be a more faithful adaption (in theory) of the manga than the original show. They also re released the manga volumes again in a crisp, new form. So, I finally got to read it and it’s a solid Shojo title. It’s safe to say that it beats most of the others, (I still say that Fairy Navigator Runa may be better…) but it definitely has its weak points as well. Let’s see how the series held up through the years!

The plot is pretty large so bear with me. The first arc mainly follows Usagi as she deals with the usual school routines and such until she is given a magical amulet by a cat. She is actually the legendary guardian of the moon…Sailor Moon to be exact! (I like to think that the sailor part is there because the scouts soar through the cosmos with their FTL feats and space has been known to have similarities to water) She must now find the other Sailor Scouts who have been scattered around her school and neighborhoods so that she can find and ~~destroy~~ defeat Queen Beryl of the Negaverse. (Dark Kingdom) It’s a tough job, but the Sailor Scouts were literally born to do this. (In this reincarnation anyway)

Things wind down a little after that as we get introduced to Mini Moon. Her courage is matched only by her cunning and she certainly makes things difficult for Usagi. (I still prefer to say Serena, but I suppose that I can deal with calling her Usagi) She has come to the present because things are getting dangerous in the future. Wiseman has assembled some powerful allies and they now wish to reduce the world/galaxy/universe into ash. That may not be his exact goal, but that’s more or less what happens. The heroes will now have to time travel and meet up with a new sailor scout to take these villains down. Can they really hope to do this or have the heroes met their match?

Next up, we get the Death Busters! (Really cool name right?) This is the anime that made Sailor Moon famous (to me anyway) and it was pretty intense in the anime. These heart snatchers want to power up an immensely destructive being to wipe out the universe once and for all! The true threat may be closer to the heroes than she appears. Will the heroes really be able to face off against someone so close? Meanwhile, Tuxedo Mask struggles to stay relevant, but it’s a losing battle. As the fate of existence hangs in the balance, Sailor Moon will have to make a tough call!

It’s hard to call the next arc an arc, but I suppose that we’ll have too since even Wikipedia recognizes it as such! A circus comes into town and there’s a new queen who happens to be evil. Nehelenia is so evil that not even the heroes can hope to make her change her ways. The scouts have been through this before, but can they hope to beat the Amazonian Quartet? The villains have finally taken the scout’s number advantage in the fights so the battle can truly be even now!

Well, every series must end at some point right? Things get chaotic for the heroes as a bunch of new characters are introduced. None of them are likable of course, but have we ever had a character debut in the final arc of a series and still manage to be epic? Sure, we can name a bunch of villains, but how about a hero? Gets interesting doesn’t it?……verrrryyy interesting. Anyway, Sailor Galaxia is basically the Sailor Moon version of Galactus and she doesn’t suffer from his great size disadvantage. Sailor Moon is completely outgunned and the scouts really seem to be outmatched. They’re going to have to use the power of friendship and something that could be even more useful in a fight if they really want to end things once and for all!

I’d say that the series’ main weakness is that it feels dated. It’s not really in a good way as some series can pull it off a little more efficiently than others. The art is the main problem that I have with it. It’s kind of like Tsubasa in the sense that the art usually looks all right, but it gets dicey for fight scenes. On the other hand, Tsubasa was still a lot newer and it did look more refined than Sailor Moon. I have a feeling that it’s the kind of series that is easier to read the second time around, but I read this one pretty recently so I likely wouldn’t revisit it for a while. Thus, I can’t really say that I care for the art. I would certainly call it under average, but I’m sure that many series back in those days weren’t quite as refined as the ones of today. Some would hold up well and others just wouldn’t. This is simply a case of the latter.

It’s also why my memory of the series is more grainy than it would be for something like Bleach. The events start to blur together after a while and the characters can look very similar as well. I also have the TV show to thank for my distractions since I saw it quite a few times so I tend to think of the TV show version of each arc instead of the manga’s. What can I say…the show was just That good. Still, this could be the manga’s greatest weakness. No series wants to be forgettable and my recollection is just way vaguer than it should be. Even for a series like Muyo and Roji or Kingdom Hearts II where there may be yearlong breaks between chapters, it’s always pretty easy to remember past events and just jump in. It helps that there are only a handful of characters who really stand out in Sailor Moon. (Plus, no “Rage Mode” scenes or big power ups that radically change Sailor Moon’s appearance.

The oldness of the series does help it in one big area. There really isn’t anything in the way of fanservice. It’s possible that there is a scene or two somewhere in the manga, but I can’t recall any and that’s always a good thing. There is a pretty big dose of romance thanks to Tuxedo ~~Last~~ Mask and Sailor Moon though. I can’t say that it’s very good though and the constant insults can make you take a step back. Why couldn’t these two just stay as rivals or enemies? Most of the bickering was in the anime so it’s not quite as common in the manga, but it’s still intense to see. Taking away the romance would have been fun since the new characters in the final arc wouldn’t have jumped into the fray themselves. The romance isn’t terrible like Black Bird so it won’t really affect the score that much, but I definitely would have liked it to have been cut out.

One thing that always needs to be addressed are the power levels for the series since they’re always compared to DBZ. I have to say that I sneeze at the very thought of Sailor Moon being that high. One Piece or Naruto could have a field day with the Sailor Moon universe, never mind Bleach! Sailor Moon would have a more even match in something like Shaman King I suppose, but pre elemental spirits and taking Hao away. Then, that could be an interesting fight. The problem is that the Sailor Moon fighters tend to be very slow and their durability is really underwhelming. They’re basically just meta human in those areas or maybe not even peak human. All you need is a quick slash from Kenshin and they would all go down. It really all comes down to Sailor Saturn and Sailor Galaxia to hold off the big threats since they have some good proven feats. The rest of the characters are mostly hype at this point. The manga does make it easy with all of the narration. We find out towards the end that all of the Sailor Scouts are immortal and their spirits are indestructible. This means that they can never be defeated for good because their souls will just be reincarnated. So, the debaters who put a lot of stock into the “immortal = victory” argument will definitely like this. Of course, destroying them once every 100-1000 years shouldn’t be too difficult for the villains since the reincarnations will likely not be much stronger. This is why immortality really doesn’t help all that much. Well, it’s still good to see that Sailor Moon has a lot of debaters on their side.

Sailor Moon is the main character and she’s pretty unique. It’s safe to say that there aren’t many main characters like her, but I can’t say that it’s really a good thing. She’s just not my kind of main character. She’s mostly comic relief for about 90% of the series and she’s just not very powerful. I guess it’s okay for the main character to not be supremely powerful or born with the powers of the 9 Tailed Fox or something, but it certainly doesn’t help. Let’s also not forget the romance subplots as well. Adding all of these things up results in a main character that just isn’t my style. If she could have at least said something like “Only one of us is walking away from this chump” or “In the name of the Moon, prepare to die!” then that likely would have helped me gain some respect for her. I just want her to strike some fear into the hearts of the villains or to at least stand up to them. Typically, Sailor Moon just isn’t that kind of character.

We’ve also got Tuxedo Mask, but they don’t call him Tuxedo Man for a reason. He constantly gets kidnapped or brain washed so it’s really hard to take him seriously. He doesn’t really have any abilities at his disposal so it makes sense that he would be defeated, but he should at least lose with some dignity. His rose was surprisingly effective in the anime, but it was definitely not quite as lethal here. He also develops a romance with the main character that he tries to deny through insults and such, but he eventually crumbles. The romance plots don’t help either of them as you would expect. Again, Tuxedo Mask just needed to act a little cooler for me to really like him. At least punch out one of the villains or something! Don’t worry, we’re going to talk about a cooler character next for a change of pace.

Sailor Galaxia is the big villain that I had been waiting for! It’s no stretch to say that she rose the series up the universe tiers by herself. There were other strong fighters of course, but Galaxia is a casual planet buster and she actually felt like a DBZ villain. This is someone that I could actually picture fighting opponents like Frieza. (Let’s not push it and request that fight though) She’s easily the best villain in the series and that’s great since it means that the manga got to end with a bang. Her armor is really cool and it helps her design to end up as one of the best. She’s easily one of my favorite characters in the franchise and maybe she is my favorite. It’s something that I’ll have to think about.

Two other villains are Queen Beryl and Queen Nehemiah. Unfortunately, they are essentially the same character. I can’t really say that they have any personality. They just want to destroy the world or something along those lines. They are willing to destroy innocent people to do this and Sailor Moon won’t stand for it! They’re not bad villains, but they are pretty generic. In that case, your only hope is usually for the villain to have a cool design or to have some impressive combat feats. In those regards, Queen Beryl definitely beats Nehemiah. I can’t say that they really added much to the series, but Queen Beryl has become pretty iconic by this point. So, I’d say that it warrants her appearance and she can definitely fight. I’ll also give some props to her since her name is a pretty cool pun. From the manga, Queen Beryl is probably my second favorite villain. It’s a bit of a “by default” thing, but that still does mean that I find her likable. It may be in comparison to others, but she still beats many other villains. If only she could have gotten a nice hand to hand fight or an extended action scene. That certainly would have been cool!

Wiseman is the big villain from the Mini Moon arc and you gotta love the design. He has a pretty intimidating cloak. Unfortunately, his plan is rather sketchy. It revolves around Mini Moon lacking strength of character and buying into what he’s saying. If she had just stayed in the castle or been a little more defiant..things may have been okay. Still, Wiseman’s “cunning” I suppose and he can still fight when it comes to that. He’s not the greatest fighter, but that’s all right considering who he’s fighting. He’s a little generic, but there’s only so much you can do with a serious villain who runs around in a cloak while holding a crystal ball.

The Sailor Starlights come in during the end of the series and they’re pretty underwhelming characters. They’re only here to mess with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo ~~Mast~~ Mask. This gets old rather quickly and you would think that their tricks wouldn’t work on the strong bond that the two of them have right? Well, the problem is that Sailor Moon is easily impressed by just about anyone and we’ve established that Tuxedo Mask doesn’t have a lot of will power. The Starlights are eventually written out of the manga, but why they were added in the first place is beyond me. They scream “filler characters” whenever they’re on screen.

We’ve also got the three Outer Sailor Scouts. Neptune, Pluto, and Uranus. These three were pretty intense in the show, but their roles have been drastically reduced in the manga. Sailor Pluto never really gets to fight since she has to guard the time portals. She eventually rejects that job, but she only gets a page or two of action to use her signature attack. It’s a pretty good attack and more fighters should learn how to use the classic energy ball. Uranus had a pretty great attack in the show and I believe that it’s the same in the manga, but it doesn’t look very impressive. Neptune’s water abilities are decent as well, but these two never get to do anything worthwhile. They couldn’t take down Saturn and I think that’s when the audience realized that they weren’t any more useful than the other Scouts. Only Sailor Moon can hope to take the villains down.

Well then, how about the normal scouts? Mercury is one of the originals and she’s not really a fighter. She’s pretty smart and she has aqua abilities, but even her powers aren’t meant for combat. It’s all about bubble illusions or other non threats. She eventually gets some better abilities, but she really doesn’t help all that much in the fights. Sailor Mars has fire powers and she is a little more refined with her abilities. She can talk a good game and her fire arrow is an attack that I can actually trust. She’s a step up from Mercury to be sure. Sailor Jupiter doesn’t have much character and I really didn’t like her in the show. I’m more indifferent as far as the manga is concerned. Thunder abilities are cool, but they never really help her out. Sailor Venus is arguably the strongest member of the main Sailor Scouts with the exception of Sailor Moon. She has a lot of prior experience since she was already a Sailor Scout since before Sailor Moon’s time. Her experience causes her to be pretty confident or to completely underestimate her opponents…usually both. She’s definitely better than most of the others, but Sailor Mars may give her competition. (In the manga anyway)

Mini Moon is sort of a member, but I like to think of her as a part timer. She hasn’t really gotten to develop her abilities yet so she can’t help in a fight. Mostly, she just tries to psych out Sailor Moon and mess with everyone’s memories. She’s pretty skilled in that area, but she tends to make a lot of bad decisions that endanger everyone. Mini Moon gets a pretty cool/powerful super form as a result, but it’s only a positive for her. At the very least, Mini Moon manages to be a lot more likable than Mini Mini Moon. (Or Chibi Chibi Moon) The double Mini Moon can’t really talk since she’s so young and she’s really only useful for one of those twists that you were waiting for at the end.

We’ve also got the mysterious Sailor Saturn. She’s one of the main antagonists for a while and her power is considerable. Aside from Sailor Galaxia, it may not be a stretch to say that she is the strongest character in the series. She actually shows her feats instead of relying on the hype of the other characters to keep her going. Sadly, she doesn’t get to do much once she turns good, but one good action scene is still a lot better than 90% of the cast. Her design is pretty inspired and she’s easily one of the best characters in the series.

There are certainly other characters that I could mention. We had The Heart Snatchers, The crazy Scientist, The evil circus…but they aren’t huge players. Sailor Moon is not the kind of manga that really believes in a lot of character development so they’re all pretty one note. This sort of leads into one of the complaints that I have with it.

Sailor Moon is always the hero. What we’ve learned from epic manga like DBZ and Naruto is that it’s best for supporting characters to also get their moments. Imagine if Goku got to fight Android 17 instead of Piccolo and if he fought 18 instead of Vegeta? Picture Goku always being the guy to claim victory while all of the side characters lost every time. That’s basically what happens in Sailor Moon. Her teammates can’t really do anything right and they have to be saved by Sailor Moon everytime. It can get pretty annoying after a while and especially if you don’t really care for the lead. This is probably one of the reasons why the other characters aren’t memorable. All of the Sailor Scouts are just there to be defeated over and over again. Sailor Moon’s victories also aren’t that impressive because she’ll just fire some kind of energy blast and the opponent is disintegrated. This never fails.

How does Sailor Moon stack up against the anime? Not very well I’m afraid. I think Toei realized a lot of the mistakes that the manga made and rushed to fix them. They didn’t get everything right though. Toei added some extra romance with Mars and they made Jupiter to be a pretty unlikable character. That being said, they made sure that each of the Scouts got their time to shine and there were many more fight scenes to be found. The fillers helped to develop the characters and I can safely say that I remember most of the episodes pretty clearly. I dare say that the anime is in another league and that is very rare since the manga is typically on the same level as the show. Some would say that the manga is typically superior since there is no filler. This is just not the case here. How does it stack up against Crystal? Much better so far, but it’s likely a losing battle. I’ll get back to you on that once I watch it.

This review may have seemed pretty negative, but that’s just because there are a lot of noticeable errors. Some series are just easier to rip apart than others. You still have to consider that this is one of the oldest fighting, shojo manga and it didn’t have a lot of the resources available to us today. It didn’t know that supporting characters should get a bigger role and the art isn’t really its fault. (Still gotta count it though) Sailor Moon was a fun read and that’s what counts. I’m confident that a remake manga would be even better and it still clobbers the average Shojo manga of today.

One of the positives that I can easily elaborate on is the final arc. I guess it would be a stretch to say that it saved the manga from being known as an action series without much action, but it did add a good amount. The stakes were a lot higher and the fights were a lot more engaging. The Sailor Scouts had been needing an opponent like Galaxia to fight because it would make things more interesting. It’s the closest to DBZ that we’ll get here and it was a blast. Galaxia’s minions weren’t that interesting, but her fight was definitely a lot of fun. It also proved that the artist can draw good fight scenes when she wants to. If we had another arc after the final one that had been just as action packed, it may have given it enough steam to earn an extra star on its rating. As it is, it ends up missing the solid seven. If you’re thinking about checking out the series, I’d definitely recommend making it to the final arc. The battles and nonstop action definitely makes it worth it!

Overall, Sailor Moon is a legend and it’s still one of the biggest titles around. I definitely had my share of qualms with it. I didn’t care for the art and most of the characters weren’t really likable. Still, it manages to avoid most of the pitfalls of other manga like fanservice and characters that are beyond dislikable. (Even DBZ had some of those!) Some parts of the series definitely feel dated, like the writing and the art, but it’s still a fun read. This is a series that has a lot of replay value. There are around 12 volumes and slightly more depending on the format. I would definitely recommend this to the average manga fan and especially if you’re curious about the Shojo version of DBZ. Don’t go into it expecting a bunch of fight scenes though as it’ll give you the wrong impression. Just go in blind and I’m sure that you’ll enjoy it as a pretty nice series. Who knows, maybe this will get you to watch the anime based off of it. See, I think it’s a fair assessment to say that Sailor Moon fails as a shonen action series about warriors who defend the world from evil. You should not read it for that. If you read it as just another Shojo series, then you’ll be very impressed since most of them stay away from the action genre. (Don’t compare it to other magical girl items though or you’ll be saddened to see just how much it gets stomped by Pretty Cure) Sailor Moon won’t be joining the elites of manga, but it can easily fight for Top 3 in the Shojo section of manga. (Which is impressive in itself!) I do plan to give it a re read someday since the ambiguous art also makes you want to check again to make sure that you didn’t miss any feats.

Overall 6/10

Dark Passage Review

Posted on September 23, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for the next installment in the Bogart and Bacall series. This film is still a mystery, but it’s not as much of a focus as it was in the last film. The plot involves the mystery of course, but it’s also a thriller as the hero has to stay low to make sure that the cops don’t find him. It’s another solid film from the 40’s and it holds up pretty well. There is one aspect of it that I can’t say that I’m crazy about and it involves the camera angles. Beyond that, it looks like we’ve picked another winner!

The plot involves Vincent, an escaped convict. He has been charged with murdering his wife and he was going to be locked up for a very long time..unless he goes to the gas chamber. None of those options appeal to Vincent so he somehow manages to break out of jail and jump onto a prison transport while riding in a barrel. He rolls his way into a lake and knocks out a driver who was passing by. Things are still pretty dangerous for him when a mysterious lady tells him to get into her car as she takes him home. How many hidden agendas does this lady have and is Vincent really safe here? Things are going to get tough for Vincent and we aren’t even sure if we should root for him. After all…what if the charges are true!?

Vincent is not quite as interesting as the last two leads that we had for the 40’s films. He’s not quite as bold or confident. He’s not timid, but he’s not quick to insult everyone and make a lot of witty comebacks. He does go into rage mode once his friend is taken out of the picture (He denies this of course) and he’s a decent fighter. Still, Vincent could have handled the situation better if he didn’t keep making unnecessary errors. “Why did you want the Sports section Vince” “I wanted to see how the Miami horses were doing” “Those finished months ago….GET HIM!” is basically how one scene goes down. At least choose something like Baseball where you can be sure that it’s still active. He claims to have played it so he should know if it’s in the off season or not. Something easy like Baseball would have really helped him when he was in a tough spot.

Irene is a character that did trick me so I will give props there. I was waiting for her to betray Vincent or to unleash her master plan. I kept waiting and waiting until the credits started rolling. She’s all right I suppose, but her strategy is definitely more than a little risky. There was still the chance that Vincent was a murderer. (Although Irene did have some decent evidence that suggested otherwise) She’s not a fighter and she doesn’t have a gun so she doesn’t get to help that much in the climax, but she certainly helps Vincent a lot when he’s in a pinch.

Madge is the lady next door who is worried about Vincent’s possible arrival into the state. She believes that Vincent will come after her and it’s a very delicate situation. They certainly don’t get along, but it seems like nobody really gets along with her. There’s not much to say about Madge here since she’s deeply entangled into the plot, but I can’t say that she’s a great character.

Sam is pretty good since he sees through Vincent’s facade without any effort. This is definitely a guy who could be a detective and the veiled threats start to get pretty intense until you realize that he has a master plan in all of this. I’d definitely say that he’s one of the better characters in the film. He doesn’t get a whole lot of screentime, but he was certainly memorable.

We had some side characters as well, but they didn’t do a whole lot. The plastic surgeon is there to help. He makes a joke about how he could wreck Vincent’s life, but at least he was just joking. Another character by the name of Bob didn’t realize the dangers of romance until it was too late. It’s a common story for many people. Vincent also had a friend who was pretty nervous the whole time, but he still pulled it together when he had too. If only he was a bit of a better fighter.

One of the dicier parts of the film is the first person camera strategy that is used for the first half of the film. I’ve never been a fan of the found footage genre and it only works for certain parts. It’s kind of interesting to see everything through the main character’s eyes, but I think it would work best if only used sometimes. It would definitely be tough to implement, but I’m sure that they can pull it off. The thing with first person is…it works best for interactive rides or (very small) segments of a video game or movie/episode. It can be used for drama and suspense. That is where the first person look works best.

There is naturally some plot hax to be found here since most escape films need them. How did Vincent get out of prison to go in the barrel? Why did the guard do such a terrible job of checking Irene’s car? How come the villains are all geniuses? These are questions that you may ask yourself as you watch the film. They aren’t huge, but you’ll still wonder about these scenes. Especially the first two since the film should have easily have been able to think of a more believable scenario.

No matter how you look at it, the second half of the film is a lot more exciting than the first parts. We get to see the lead get into a gun fight and put all of the pieces together. It feels more like the other two films since Vincent gets to use his experience to try and win the day. The film is still missing something though and it’s hard to place your finger on it. It’s still missing most of the soundtrack, but the writing is solid. The only thing that I can come up with is that the plot isn’t quite as engaging as one would expect. That…or the stakes are just too low. It’s a little hard to figure, but that does end up hurting the film a little bit.

Overall, Dark Passage was a pretty good film. The characters were definitely weaker than their counterparts in the other Bogart/Bacall films, but they were good enough. They would still be much better than your average protagonist of the modern day films. The camera work didn’t click with me though and it means that we didn’t really get to see the main character for a while. The film’s main problem is that it’s just less interesting than the last two. Of course, it is still a pretty good film overall and you should enjoy it if you like a casual escape story/mystery. I would sooner recommend another Bogart and Bacall team up, but I’m sure that any moviegoer will want to see the full set. So prepare yourself!

Overall 6/10

The Big Sleep Review

Posted on September 22, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for another classic with Bogart and Bacall! This was still in the pre Godzilla days of cinema and those films were typically pretty intense. There are two genres in particular where classic films really shine. Kaiju adventures and mysteries. This is an example of the latter and it’s definitely a pretty compelling story. There are so many twists here that it can be pretty hard to follow, which also makes it pretty exciting!

Explaining the plot is pretty difficult as it was with the last film. The reason all of the twists and turns continue to lead into the next one so the original plot keeps adapting accordingly. Still, the plot begins with Marlowe heading into a mansion. He’s basically a private detective and he knows the ropes. “The General” hires him to get somebody out of the way…peacefully of course. This man is related to a racket that is blackmailing The General, which may be linked to the guy who ran off with Ms. Mars…or do they call her Brody now?…which may be related to Carmen’s police entanglements that could be why they found a body in the lake, which could have come from the mysterious house on the mountain, which may have something to do with all of the murders that have been occurring. Marlowe was expecting a fairly simple case, but maybe he’s bitten off more than he can chew with this case!

This film really had everything that I could have wanted from a mystery film. There are quite a few suspects and new characters continue to pop up. Marlowe makes for a pretty good detective and the film gets right to the point. It’s around 2 hours and they make sure to squeeze in as much action and suspense as possible. It’s safe to say that I preferred this one to the other film that I saw with the same lead actors. (To Have and Have Not)

Marlowe’s the main character and he is definitely better than your average lead. As I mentioned earlier, he has a lot of experience so he’s basically a pro by this point. He’s always got a witty comeback at the ready and he doesn’t take any sass from anyone. He even manages to block a slap and disarm a guy with ease. Marlowe is essentially invincible for the first half of the film. Unfortunately, he does start to crumble by the second half as he suffers two quick losses faster than the Vikings broke down against the Patriots and Saints this year! It’s a little surprising to see how quickly the tables turn on him, but I suppose that Marlowe is only human. He had to make a mistake sometime and it just happened to occur at a critical time. Through it all, Marlowe is definitely a solid character even if he does fall into the romance trap during the film.

Vivian is the main heroine of the film, although her role is a lot smaller than one would typically expect. She is around a lot to give Marlowe some advice that may or may not be true. She’s always trying to dig up some dirt on what Marlowe knows, but the detective always manages to turn her own words against her. It’s hard to tell whether she’s on his side or with the crooks since she can be rather shady. It’s time to add suspect number one to the list! She does use her romance skills to try and get Marlowe, which tends to work on the leads since it’s one of the only things that they think about. Ah well, retro films do typically have romance so it’s hard to avoid.

Eddie Mars is one of the bigshots and there’s no way that he isn’t guilty of something. The question is…is Eddie Mars The crook or just a crook? It’s hard to tell and he’s also pretty cunning so it’s hard to get any information out of him. He’s got his minions at the ready and he’s fairly powerful in the underground circuits. Messing with him could be pretty dangerous for Marlowe. They have a pretty intense meetup inside of the haunted house where guns are drawn..on multiple occasions!

Never forget that where there’s an Eddie, there is always a Joe! Joe Brody is another big shot and he lacks Eddie’s riches, but he still has enough to get by. He’s quick with a gun and his only mistake is that he likes to open the door without peering through the keyhole or asking “Who is it?” before opening. He gets his own action scene as well so show how tough he can be. We definitely can’t rub him off the list?

Don’t worry, it’s time for another gun wielding suspect in the form of Carmen Sternwood! Most of the problems are centered around her so it’s entirely possible that she is just orchestrating the entire thing. Her first scene is her trying to win Marlowe over and almost succeeding. She’s typically pretty high or emotionally unstable so it’s tough to get a read on her. With a gun..anything is possible here. We certainly can’t rule her out and she wasn’t a good character anyway. She does have her own personal minion though..so she is not as innocent as she seems.

Bernie is Marlowe’s friend who happens to be a cop. Wouldn’t it be a big twist if it was actually the really nice cop? Sure, but it may be a bit of a stretch to assume that it’s him. Of course, that could just be what I want you to think! He’s a pretty cool guy and he does send a few veiled threats at Marlowe to keep the hero honest. This guy’s one of the few people who can stand up to the hero at all!

This film does have a little more music than you would expect from the average 40’s film. I still don’t really remember any of the themes after watching it, but it’s better than nothing. This film has a decent amount of action since we get quite a few gunfights and even a quick hand to hand beatdown. There is some romance, but it’s not a whole lot so you should live.

One thing about the old films that can be amusing to see is how smart everyone is. It’s almost like every character is a genius. Not in an academic sense, but in a practical one. All of them know not to say too much and how to say it. They are all familiar with tricking the police and talking in very cryptic ways. Even breaking a code is not very tough for the main character. It’s interesting to say the least. At least this means that the hero knows how to get the jump on the villains to wrestle the gun away from them.

Overall, This was a pretty solid mystery. The writing was good and the pacing was very quick. There were many twists and even I would likely still wonder about some scenes by the end. All of the names just kind of blend together after a while and it’s hard to read the writing in such small print when they go to show the evidence. The film’s one weakness aside from the romance would likely be that they could have made the ending a little clearer. Give us some closure instead of abruptly ending. Either way, that’s good since the film will keep you guessing. It’s hard not to root for Marlowe since he’s just so great at being a detective. He really fears no one and he just continues to talk back to everyone that he meets. I highly recommend this film if you have been yearning to check out an old mystery and there is also some action to keep you interested in what’s happening. Let’s also not forget the haunted house atop the hill. This could end up as the best 1940’s film of all time! (A true feat to be sure)

Overall 7/10

Enemy Territory Quake Wars Review

Posted on September 20, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for another first person shooter! TimeSplitters was pretty good so it’s safe to say that I had some reasonable hopes for this game. The level designs looked pretty intense from the back of the cover and it has a pretty sweet opening cutscene. I was all set for a pretty intense adventure, but this title is unfortunately not nearly as it could be. There’s a huge reason for this…so let’s get to it!

There is no real story mode. Let that sink in for a few minutes. There is a campaign mode and their are several countries to choose from, but it’s basically just a team Deathmatch like in Transformers. You can play them in online mode or offline. Naturally, it’s been a long time since this game came out so I didn’t even bother to check the servers. I jumped into the offline battle and it’s definitely not quite as entertaining on your own. You fight the enemies, but there is no plot and everything resets once you finish the level so you can try it again. You keep the level ups, but it’s really just like playing an online match by yourself.

I give the game credit for how big the levels are, but it’s not really enough to make this game a winner in my books. A story mode is a must or at least some more variety. There is seriously nothing to do in this game. I could play a lot of “multiplayer” matches by myself, but finishing one level was tough since it’s just so long. I definitely wouldn’t want to try the levels too many more times. You can optionally lower the timer to 10 minutes, but you still wouldn’t be accomplishing something. It would be another story if this game had trophies, but this was before the PS3 started giving them out to all of the games. Either way, I have a feeling that most of them wouldn’t be achievable anymore.

The gameplay is rather deep for an FPS. I dare say that it may be a little too complex, but I’m sure that Call of Duty fans will appreciate how much effort was put into this. You get 5 different weapons that you can shift between and you get to pick your class at the beginning of each match. Once you decide whether you want to be an alien or a human, you get to go onto the battlefield. You want to fulfill your objectives and conquer as much land as possible. The stage is so big that the battles easily take up the 40 minutes. I ended up dying about 50 times in those 40 minutes.

It’s similar to Star Fox Assault in that the vehicles are pretty overpowered. Your attacks don’t do all that much damage to them and a single hit will wipe you out. The enemy had a ton of objects at the ready to blast you with and my army felt pretty unprepared. You can also jump and duck. It’s a pretty realistic shooter as far as the mechanics are concerned. It’s also pretty cool to be able to coordinate such a large army and it’s like a beat em up, but without the fun parts. (The beating everyone up in fluid/fast gameplay that makes everything exciting.

The graphics definitely hold up rather well. A lot of detail has been added to the game and considering that this came out about half a decade ago, it holds up well. The enemy attacks really look cool and the opening is definitely something that will catch your attention. It’s very realistic, which works for the setting that this game has. I think the grenade explosions could be a little better, but this will have to do. There’s not much of a soundtrack here to speak of. It got lost in all of the shooting that was going on!

This game could have easily scored a 7 with a decent story mode. At least give us a 1 on 1 option for some local multiplayer! There really isn’t anything wrong with the gameplay and the levels really give you a lot of options. You can swim so you can go around the enemy base through water or you can set up ambushes in a factory. This game is really extensive and you could certainly make some real plans as long as you got the microphone for the PS3. On your own, none of that is an option and the game loses over 95% of its replay value. Fighting against computers isn’t very exciting and there are no real rewards, which also takes away the incentive of playing it. A game should always prioritize story mode over the online functions or at least make sure that it is a reasonably good option. This game had a lot of potential, but it ultimately blew it.

Overall, Quake Wars was definitely not as good as TimeSplitters. At its peak, I’m confident that it will have still lost since I preferred the gameplay in the futuristic title. It may have been rather simplistic, but that’s definitely okay for an FPS. The speed of the gameplay was important as well. Quake Wars is a dependable game if you just want to earn exp on your own against some computers, but know that there isn’t anything to do with it. It’s like questing by yourself in an MMO with no story and no ultimate goal. For that reason, this game is almost unplayable. You can definitely get it for a low price, but if you want to play a real FPS, check out Agent Under Fire for Gamecube! Now that is an FPS with a story that also contains a very solid multiplayer alternative.

Overall 4/10

To Have and Have Not Review

Posted on September 19, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for a really retro film! This one came out in the 40s so this was even before the Godzilla days. Actually…even I wasn’t born way back then! (Believe it or not!) I tend to enjoy these classic films since they really did a good job with the writing back then. The characters are typically a lot more enjoyable and the gun fights tended to be more entertaining than the modern ones. Classic films have their weaknesses as well so it’s not all up, but they can hold their own. Was this film a true classic or was it the next Lord of the Rings? It’s time to find out!

Germany has taken France down for the count at the start of the film. There is only a small resistance movement left and they’re badly outnumbered and outgunned. These guys seem to have no chance and a hostile tension fills the land. The story follows Steve, a professional fisherman. He’s an American and that means that he’s in less danger than most of the other characters. He keeps reminding the Germans to watch out for Uncle Sam. (Not in those words, but he does mention his rights and threatens to call the Americans at one point) The French want Steve to transport a political figure from an area across the sea back to his hotel. Steve decides not too, but a woman by the name of Marie arrives and things start to get chaotic for the heroes. The french did not listen to Steve and they arrive only to be shot down. The villains decide to mess with Steve and Marie since they’re suspects and they steal all of Steve’s money. This results in Steve deciding to take the job as well as the fact that the villains were messing with Marie. Will Steve be able to make a difference in this war?

It’s a crude analysis of the plot, but that’s because it’s very plot heavy. Every scene leads into the next one and while the film is only 2 hours, you could say that there are 4-5 segments of the film. The plot continues to twist and turn as the film goes on and it’s hard to know where to draw the line. After all, you don’t want to spoil what’s going to happen and the actual plot for the film at certain points can become spoilers. It’s tricky and I figured that I would just dodge that part by giving the basic overview of the plot. Pretty ingenius eh? Well I try…

Is Steve a good main character? The lead is pretty crucial in a film like this since he’ll be getting a whole bunch of screentime. Only 3-10 minutes of the film take place without him and maybe even less than that. On one hand, Steve is the kind of guy that you want on your side. He’s very brave and he doesn’t back down to anyone. He talks back to the Germans, the French, etc. Nobody talks to Steve the wrong way if he has anything to say about it. He also makes sure to defend his friends so anyone who messes with them has to mess with him. Those are the positive qualities for Steve and it’s why I can safely say that he’s a dependable main character.

On the other hand, Steve does get heavily involved in the romance plot. He’s pretty easily wooed by the main heroine although he keeps his composure and uses insults to try and trick her into thinking that he doesn’t want her around. “Don’t get the wrong idea…..I’m not doing this for you….I’m doing it for me!” is the kind of thing that you can expect him to say. It’s definitely hard to tell at some points whether he is really as calm and collected as he appears or not since Marie really gets to him at times. I could do without the romance and I’m sure that you’ve already heard this in my older reviews. Still, Steve ended up being a good character.

Eddie is Steve’s main assistant on the ship. He used to be a pretty good guy according to Steve, but now he’s always drunk. The beer has already damaged him both physically and mentally. It’s too bad since you get the sense that he could have been a pretty likable guy back in the day. He’s still fairly nice, but he has a really short term memory and he is completely addicted to beer. It’s one of the only things that he thinks about in life. He’ll still stand by Steve until the bitter end, but he’s a shell of his former self. He’s certainly an amusing character though and he’s not quite as annoying as a modern version of him would be. Basically, Eddie was still a good character.

Marie is the main heroine of the film. We never get a full glimpse into her origin, but perhaps it is for the best. Why dwell on the past right? She starts out as a petty thief who uses people to get money, but she decides to go straight when she meets Steve. It’ll be dangerous, but the journey is worth it for the goal at the end of the road. She does jump start the whole romance angle, but I suppose that it was inevitable. We still had some nice banter between her and Steve at one point where they kept trying to provoke the other person. (Remember when people actually used the word sore instead of upset? That’s one “slang” term that died out pretty early on) The character development was really good for Marie though and she’s a much better character at the end of the film than at the beginning. It’s always good to see an example of character development helping someone since it has a tendency to have the opposite effect.

We had some other supporting characters, but they weren’t very memorable for the most part. “Frenchie” was constantly getting Steve into trouble, but it was for a good cause I suppose. The other members of the rebellion were not so great though and the big shot that Steve had to transport turned out to not be very great by the end. It’s safe to say that I was expecting a lot more out of him. The main villain is pretty fat and almost endearing, but not quite. It’s what I would expect so I give the film a thumbs up there.

There is not much of a soundtrack so the film scores a 0 there, but most old films didn’t have many solid themes playing. The simple reason that explains this is the fact that rock music wasn’t really around at the time. The writing is the film’s main strength. The dialogue is just first rate as you would expect and it’s mainly thanks to Steve since he gets about 90% of the cool lines in the film. The others help though and this is how you make a script!

Overall, This was a pretty solid film. The film is under 2 hours, but it’ll still feel like it has a longer runtime since so much happens in that time period. Most of it won’t even feel like filler since something is usually happening in the shadows. Steve is an example of a character who talks tough and gets dragged into romance, but still manages to be 1000X cooler than someone like James Bond. I definitely recommend this film if you’re looking for a solid dialogue film or if you want to see something involving the Germans from back in the day. The French are on the losing side in this film, but at least we know that things will get better once America jumps in. America definitely gets its props here and that’s always fun to see. There is some brief action in the film as well so that helps the film as well. Is this the best 40’s film that I’ve seen? It’s certainly possible! (I’ll just have to check which other films I’ve seen from this decade!)

Overall 6/10

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