Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 Review

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It’s time for a very emotional game. Poppy’s Playtime has been a fairly intense video game series where almost every journey ends with tragedy. Most of the characters do not get a happy ending and at this point they are just hoping to get out of this place alive. It’s hard to say how many chapters there will be but this one does feel as though we are approaching the ending. Potentially just one chapter left now but we’ll have to see how that goes. This was my first journey where it was just one chapter by itself so that was different. It does mean that the game goes a lot faster than the collection.

Chapter 3 ended with the hero finally getting close to the safe haven so things should go well from here. Poppy will go check on Missy while you go forward to save the day. The only thing you did not count on was that the danger is still ever present. Well, I guess you probably did figure on that to be honest. You’ll have to use your wits and reflexes to stay alive once more because these villains still intend to destroy you as soon as they can. There may not be a whole lot of enemies left but each one packs a punch. Are any of the creatures on your side? Or are you walking right into a trap?

Along the way you will learn a lot of lore through your surroundings as well as the various audio tapes. They can get a little repetitive at times though as it feels like the game is drip-feeding you the information much slower than before. You need multiple tapes just for the characters to be begging for their lives during the experiments. It’s pretty clear that the villains got away with a whole lot back in the lab and you can definitely see why they are all eliminated.

The gameplay itself is solid but the story does often tread into the valleys of being a little too extra grim dark. You’re more interested in the present and staying alive than the mystery of what happened before. Personally I would say the best thing for the game to do would be to keep it as secretive as possible. The more open you keep the past, the better it will work for theory crafting. I suppose its existence does give the game a lot of replay value though as I’m sure a whole lot of people enjoy going through the rooms slowly to try and find every possible collectible. Even outside of those, you will often find messages on the tables and walls .

I would say the core gameplay is platforming but there is also a lot of puzzle solving. You need to connect different objects and also piece together patterns. For the most part the game is reasonable with these but there was one puzzle involving anatomy that I thought was a little unreasonable. I had to brute force it and am still not really sure how to do it logically. The red smoke made it so hard to explore and it felt like this puzzle had a number of red herrings. That only made things even trickier. When it comes to the platforming itself, I found it to be much easier than the third game. I still did die a whole lot during the game but nothing quite as crazy as the final boss in part 3.

The toughest segments for me here were typically when I had to use stealth and get past the monster. Their hearing is quite sharp and sometimes their speeds were lightning quick. It’s why I was really grateful for all the checkpoints in the game. Without that it would have definitely taken even longer to complete the game. It would certainly be easier if we could carry a better weapon. The flare gun that the lead has is okay but certainly not the most powerful thing around. It’s mostly good for just scaring the opposition.

The story took around 3 hours to beat and we got over half of the collectibles but not quite all of them. The platinum trophy actually looks rather difficult so that would add a lot of replay value. Of course keep in mind that the game is fairly cheap even when it just came out so it makes the play time a lot more tolerable. You are still getting a good amount of value for your purchase with this one.

The graphics are also pretty solid here. The game definitely does get the horror vibe across well. Even I got startled a few times in the game when I would get caught. It’s a mix of well placed sound design as well as a color scheme that just really works with this. It’s hard not to get scared at least a little while playing the game. The soundtrack is less impressive but I do get why they would do that. If the soundtrack got too hype or something like that then it could definitely take away from the scare factor of it all.

My main complaint with the game would be that it does have the most breaks in action. Or at least it felt that way where there would be several points of listening to long monologues from the villains while you can’t move. With the audio tapes those are optional and you can still move so that’s fine but when you can’t move you wish the villains would pick up the pace a bit. You also figure they should have been able to beat the main character several times so the longer they talk, the more you have to suspend a little disbelief here. It’ll be interesting to see who the main character is by the end. By this point all signs are pointing to him not being some ordinary human.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 isn’t quite ready to give us any of the important answers but you still feel that we are getting closer to the end. There just aren’t many villains left to defeat after all and it’s also the kind of game where I’m not expecting that we will get all of the answers. Although there will likely be a lot of them that I just don’t notice during the main story so that’ll be where Youtube comes in handy. If you’ve been keeping up with Poppy then you should definitely jump in now. The game is reasonably difficult and quite intense so you will definitely be kept interested the whole time.

Overall 6/10

Pack of Lies

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Lies are definitely a pretty dangerous slippery slope. All it takes is one well placed lie to start a whole host of troubles and they aren’t easily placed back in the bottle. What if you are lying in order to help save your country? Well, then things get pretty interesting and this movie is definitely a compelling one. I enjoyed the plot and it was written quite well. Certainly a film I would recommend.

Imagine one day that you are minding your own business when a cop shows up and says he will be taking over your bedroom for the foreseeable future. See, they have reason to believe that a big criminal will be showing up in the neighborhood and need to take him by surprise. The trickiest part here is that you can’t tell anybody and this villain may be working with your best friend. Well, now the lies are about to start piling up and you have to decide if you trust the cops or your best friend. That is the burden Barbara and her husband Bob must bear. They are not trained for this though so can they really hang on?

Right off the bat I can say that I probably would not be playing ball here. For starters I just don’t trust people enough. I give Bob huge credit for actually calling the police to make sure that their agent was legit though. I feel like a lot of characters just take the ID at face value when they shouldn’t. Still, it’s a pretty big deal to have them in your house the whole time and if the villains are dangerous then you have just put yourself in a really rough place. Yes, the cop says there is no danger but that’s a little hard to believe.

Additionally as soon as they mentioned Barbara’s best friend Julie may be a criminal too, I’d have probably gone over and told her. This all depends on how much you trust your own instincts of course but if I’ve been real friends with someone for years then I can probably tell if they are good or bad. May sound like a humble brag and of course it can backfire but at the same time that is a risk that I feel I would have to take. It just makes too much sense not to.

In this case Barbara plays it by the book but this really does a number on her. She feels super guilty for all of the secrets. I would say a little too guilty at times to be honest. Particularly by the end once we find out if the neighbor was actually in on it or not. By that point you move on and don’t give it another thought. I’d be much harsher on the ending but this is based on a true story to I assume that includes the ending? If not, then yeah the ending is way too dramatic. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around why you would take this so hard. Barbara was ultimately just too emotional for her own good I suppose.

Then we have her husband Bob who took things with a better stride. He was clearly not as emotionally invested. Of course the whole thing was still a big deal for him too but he just wasn’t sweating the details to the same degree. We don’t really see him by the ending but can assume that he was mainly unbothered. He did his civic duty and that’s what counts here. It’s how you should really approach these things.

Their daughter Julie takes it all a lot harder but that makes sense because the whole thing really wasn’t all that fair to her. She is absolutely right that she should have been told more. I do think she would be a risk since she isn’t the best at keeping secrets but for something this large, you just have to find out the hard way just how much you trust her. This is very serious after all so if she would let the secret slip, then that’s a really bad look.

As for the neighbors, Peter doesn’t do much but Helen is certainly a central figure. The whole time she appears to be the perfect friend so the characters have to wonder if she is being truly legit or if this is just part of the game. Is she manipulating them? In that case the spying would of course be a good idea but if she is being framed or used by a criminal, then not speaking up could put her in lethal danger. Throughout the film you have to wonder what is going on and it’s that tension that works really well throughout. You have to question everything as the truth isn’t easily figured out.

As for the cops, they don’t always do a great job of trying to look trustworthy. They keep a lot of secrets and then Barbara even catches them in a lie or two when they would play dumb about things. Any kind of lie in this situation is naturally going to make it even harder to go ahead with the mission. In either event, the title certainly makes a whole lot of sense. It’s a tough situation for all of the characters involved, that much is definitely for sure.

Overall, This was a very compelling film. There are a lot of spies and sleeper agents out there. Technically you really never know if you might bump into one. Their whole job if about blending in and lying after all. So you can either go throughout your life never trusting anyone and just talking about things that don’t matter or going off on a limb and going for that trust. You never really know what the right answer is so you have got to go through it all with no regrets. Additionally if you do end up having a spy in your midst, you really can’t afford to feel bad for them. Spies may not be dirtying their hands directly, but giving away any state secrets will inevitably lead to loss of life. So they made their decision in betraying the country and you reporting them is no real betrayal at all.

The Black Stallion Review

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How much you actually enjoy this film will definitely come down to how much you enjoy the main kid. Will you find him annoying or endearing? For me he tended to be a bit more on the annoying side and so ultimately that didn’t help the film. The first half just takes way too long for anything to happen. The film gets significantly better once we are back to civilization but you really don’t feel yourself pulled into the movie. Instead you are on the outside wondering if the climax can save it all.

The film starts off by introducing us to Alec who is a bit of a quiet kid. He’s on a voyage with his father but unfortunately a big storm hits and he gets stranded on an island along with the Black Stallion. Alec must quickly learn how to fend for himself and stay alive. It’s definitely not an easy task for a little kid to handle so I give him props there. He also uses the time to get closer to the horse and it makes for a solid friendship the whole time. Once they make it back to civilization, Alec finds out that his horse is a great runner. Perhaps he can even be the best?

Technically I wouldn’t even say there is a ton of plot in this movie. Certainly not to the level you would expect to see in a movie that is around 2 hours. That is because a lot of the character development is really told through silent actions. Not a whole lot happens when it’s just Alec trying to survive on the island for example. Seeing him slowly get close to the horse can be emotional for some but for me I was really ready to get past this part. It’s why this is the crucial make or break point for the film. Me personally? I would have liked to have skipped to the civilization angle because to me that’s when the film really begins.

So that whole first half is basically dead time and while the film didn’t do anything wrong, not capturing my attention did hurt its chances of going up. Additionally in order to get to that point we had the horse get stuck and nearly drown early on. It felt like the horse was in a lot of distress throughout the movie which is always unnerving to see. The stallion was a very strong horse but I still didn’t want to see it get put through any hardships. This horse deserved a very happy life throughout. That’s absolutely what you want to see here.

As for once we get to civilization, I enjoyed the character of Henry. He helps a lot in training for the race events and just seemed like a nice guy. He was very supportive of Alec the whole time and really had his back. Without him, the racing would not have been possible. Alec and Henry certainly did put a lot of stress on Alec’s new guardian though who was understandably very hesitant to let him ride a horse. That is a dangerous profession and no amount of gaslighting can really get you around that fact.

Sure enough, the horse actually gets injured near the end. We still have an uplifting ending and things go well but yeah horse racing would not be the sport for me. In general I can do human racing but when you bring the animals into it, there are too many maybes for me. Are the horses all being treated right? What happens to the horse in last place? Working with animals is a very delicate field and not one that you want to get too mainstream because a lot of people are not really up for the task.

We’ll assume all the best in this film of course but even so there just isn’t a whole lot for me. At its core this is a film really about the kids and he’s just not good enough to hold the whole film. Kids rarely are, I always end up needing an adult to really liven things up. Since the bulk of the screentime is for the kid, it means that most of the film ends up being boring. That alone is enough for me to keep this film from making it into the green because it’s not a film that I would watch on my own.

I probably wouldn’t have made it past the opening 20 minutes on my own because I would be completely checked out. So I appreciate what the film is going for and I do appreciate there being good films aimed at the kids. This just isn’t one that suits my particular interests. At the end of the day, I certainly prefer to dislike a film based on the plot rather than on the content. So there isn’t anything particularly objectionable about this one. If you really like the idea of a kid surviving on his own in a proper coming of age story, then you’ll like this one.

Overall, I’d say parents will get the greatest amount of joy in this film. Seeing this kid take everything on with good cheer is definitely uplifting. You have to be really invested in that part of the story to make it to the race later on. That said, if you’re not a big fan of kids then it’s not like this film is really going to change your mind. The kid isn’t getting involved in a ton of banter or anything like that. If anything, he’s still fairly quiet even by the end of the film. Oh, he definitely has a lot more confidence but he certainly isn’t a big braggart. A sequel taking place 10 years later would probably be a whole lot more interesting to me. Not sure exactly where you would go with that one but it would solve my biggest issues with the film. So that was the Black Stallion, I can still safely say it beats the average animal film which tends to fall into bigger holes than simply being uneventful.

Overall 4/10

Johnny Mnemonic 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

It’s time for one of those sci-fi films that is really all over the place. It’s a dystopia but definitely not the most interesting one out there. I do like that corporate is basically the big villain in all of this but even then I wouldn’t say that it is the big win you might be hoping that it is. That’s just not enough to carry the film and so this won’t be remembered as one of the better sci-fi titles.

Our main character is Johnny and his job is to transport confidential information around. With the internet being incredibly compromised, people rely on humans to traffic the data like this. Johnny puts it in his head and then gives it to the client. He wants out of this gig, but his partner tells him that he will need to do one last job first. The problem is that this latest job has a data size that is way above Johnny’s specs. There is just no way that he can process all of this. So what is he going to do? Well Johnny figures he’ll download it anyway and it should be fine. Unfortunately this job isn’t as straight forward as it appeared and now he’s on the run from the Yakuza. He has a bodyguard named Jane helping him but she is not in the best shape. Yeah this is gonna be rough.

Right from the jump Johnny’s decision is just really dumb here. I know that he’s in a hurry to get out of the business but downloading something into his brain that can’t fit just seems like an easy trip to the grave. It’s not a brave or smart thing to do, it’s just plain dumb. A really foolish move and he is counting on the fact that he doesn’t just die instantly from this. He has a few hours before the brain leakage goes too far but any form of brain leakage obviously brings some risks along with it. So yeah this was a bad idea.

Then Johnny’s partner is super shady from the start so it comes as no surprise to find out that he’s involved with the craziness too. First rule of Dystopias is not to trust anybody. Johnny ends up working with Jane out of necessity but it’s not like he can trust her either. She is very strong and capable but gets a severe case of the shakes all the time. That puts her in a really rough spot for any professional gigs so she is also desperate enough to work with a shady fellow like Johnny. Surely there is no way any romance could bloom out of this right? That would just be poor writing.

It just feels like the story is already pretty forced from the jump with Johnny getting into this mess. There’s just no way he should have stuffed his mind and surely he could have found another job. The people giving him the data also seemed very ill prepared for the villains who showed up later on. You’d think that they would have been more prepared. Ah well, Johnny does his best but I wouldn’t say that he is the most interesting lead character.

Jane is okay and I would even say that the shakes aren’t as bad as the film treats them. Jane’s very first scene has her crushing another bodyguard so clearly she is still strong enough to take out the average fighter. Should shaking really be such a big deal? It feels like in most cases she would still be able to get along just fine even if she will need some breaks here and there. Well, at least she does well as the body guard.

The most interesting villain is the Preacher. He’s a complete nutjob who is a hitman that likes to quote the scriptures the whole time. A real twisted guy but he’s also just such a random addition to the film. Corporate hires him whenever they desperately need some action but the idea that this huge company needs to resort to this is pretty funny. The corporation has so much unbelievable power at their disposal and they still need a secret hitman? It’s not like this is a one time thing either, from the conversation it sounds like they summon him from time to time.

Then for all the hype the Preacher gets, the heroes just run him over during their first encounter. Way to ruin the hype right? It was a very questionable decision as soon as it happened. Preacher does return and gets his share of victims but you still keep remembering the first moment. Naturally the film can get a bit violent so keep that in mind if you’re the squeamish type. The film isn’t holding back with how dark the future gets after all so this is not for the faint of heart.

We also meet a friend of Jane’s, The Spider. This guy doesn’t really like the future. He thinks that things should be done without all the electronics everywhere and he tries to be old school. He was entertaining so I appreciated that. The guy was constantly upset about everything and would really speak his mind. More characters like him could have made the film more interesting. I also did like one of the main villains, Shinji. He had a cool energy whip that could cut through nearly anything. It made him a very deadly fighter and the weapon just looks cool in action. He certainly gets his share of hits in.

I do think the film had some potential here but it’s all convoluted without being super interesting. I like a good mystery and sci-fi babble but it just doesn’t always go anywhere. We have a plot with a lady in the screen with ties to Johnny’s past, a resistance that has been around for a while, and both of those elements don’t appear as much as you would think. It’s the kind of title that has a whole lot of world building and character development behind the scenes but we just don’t get to see it. It probably would have worked better as a full on series.

I would also say that as a future story it should have embraced the fun sci-fi elements a bit more. Bring in more cool weapons like Shinji’s energy whip. Johnny isn’t a super fighter or anything like that so it would make sense for him to be carrying something instead of having to hope that he can deal with these guys in hand to hand combat. When you’re dealing with the future it’s not like you need to stick to some pre-existing ideas.

Overall, I think the film could have been better but it’s not nearly as interesting as you would expect. The film could even be a bit dull at times. The idea of people carrying information in their brains is interesting and dare I even say realistic? I could totally see that being the case in the future. Corporate as the villain was also a good idea but it just goes to show that you need more than ideas. You need proper execution! If you want a good sci-fi film, you should definitely check out something like Sword Art Online instead.

Overall 4/10

X Men ’97 Review

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It’s time for the big sequel to the classic X-Men 90s show. There was definitely a whole lot of hype for this one the whole time so could it live up to that? Well, I’d say it definitely did, they cover a whole lot of ground within the short time frame they had. I’d say there was only one particularly weak episode which is mainly just because I didn’t care at all about Storm’s subplot but beyond that you could expect a lot of action and setup throughout the rest of the season. I’ll be eagerly awaiting season 2 to see what comes next.

The show starts off with the X-Men doing what they do best, saving humanity from the shadows. Storm and Bishop are taken down rather easily during the battle though and the X-Men may not be in their best fighting shape without Professor Xavier. Fortunately, that’s where Magneto steps in. He confirms that Xavier left it in his will for Magneto to take over the team after his death. It’s such a crazy move that the X-Men know in their hearts how true it must be. Only Xavier would think of doing something like this. Magneto must now find a way to get humanity and mutants to exist in harmony. Only problem is, when has humanity existed in harmony with anybody?

This show is allowed to aim a bit older than the original and as a result I would say it inadvertently makes one of the strongest cases for Magneto’s dream over Xavier’s. When I say “inadvertent” I don’t mean that the show had no idea it was pushing the Magneto narrative as it is a major plot of the season but I do think they forgot to give Xavier any compelling points. I usually don’t have a whole lot of patience for the old guy and this show makes it tougher than ever. He really comes off as being completely out of touch with reality and someone who just wants to keep on trying the same old things time and time again. Lets recap the visions.

Xavier believes that mutants and humans can coexist in peace. To that end, he has the X-Men save lives and do their best to get a good image out there. They fight the evil mutants to prevent them from harming this dream but along the way you also have governments secretly funding sentinel programs, plagues that target mutants, and general anti mutant sentiment that has always been rather high. The heroes have been fighting this war for years now and you could argue that the goal is farther away than ever. In this show we see a genocide of mutants as well as yet another sentinel program. Xavier’s response to this? It’s time to give humanity a chance. I think we run into the sunk cost fallacy here.

Yes, Bastion doesn’t work for the government so this sentinel program is a bit different but it doesn’t change the fact that yet again, mutants around the world are being taken down and nobody is ready to stop it. Xavier won’t change his ways or his mind at all though and just continues to go through with the same lines, even deciding to allow a further genocide of the mutants by shutting down Magneto and re-activating all of the sentinels around the world. This is probably his worst idea but I’ll get more into that during the Magneto side. Xavier is criticized for effectively abandoning the planet for love and his critics in the show are not wrong. Yeah things didn’t turn out well for him and he came back, but he is not in a position to just come back and start barking orders. It just doesn’t work that way. He means well, but I do think that he has not kept up with the times. Xavier will have to work hard to be even slightly likable in season 2.

Now lets talk about Magneto. His idea has changed a little more than Xavier’s. The initial plan was for mutants to basically take over the world. He figures that a war between human and mutants is inevitable and so he will have to unite the mutants and destroy all of the humans before they can begin to fight back. Pretty drastic and of course it’s why he is a villain. He then switched it to just separating the mutants and humans but that didn’t work thanks to insider traitors and then the second time they all basically got nuked. So now it’s time to basically cripple the world and give the mutants a chance to survive thanks to their meta abilities. This will also be another genocide though, basically a genocide to prevent another genocide.

Naturally this is a tough call but it’s a lot like Attack on Titan. When you know for a fact that the other side is going to destroy you then perhaps you should be the one to fire first? In most situations you can’t know what the future will hold of course, but in this series you actually get to see the future on more than one occasion. So that’s why I end up leaning towards Magneto’s idea here. It’s just hard to go against him when you know for a fact that his decisions will save a whole lot of mutants. He had to watch thousands and thousands of mutants die right in front of his eyes. Very few characters would have made a different decision at that point. So the big EMP, yeah Magneto was right in that case. The X-Men should have tried negotiating with him rather than just showing up with their bravado and basically aiming to murder him. They acted more leniently towards Bastion which is crazy.

So I definitely enjoyed Magneto’s character a whole lot here. His subplot with Rogue was pretty annoying though and the only blip in his character arc. Even ignoring the age gap, it just happens too fast and he’s been away for too long. It also didn’t make sense for Rogue to entertain this at all. She ended up wavering way too much which caused other problems. The X-Men franchise has always been one to have a lot of dramatic romance plots so it’s not entirely unexpected. The Cyclops drama was just a lot more compelling but we’ll get into that soon.

Cyclops gets a lot of screentime here and really makes the most of it. From the start we see how confident he is and the guy has really mastered his abilities. He has quite a few great fights here and the guy looks more powerful than ever. He is the voice of reason for the team but it’s also clear that things are starting to frustrate him. Certainly having Xavier pick Magneto as leader over him was a big cause for this. Cyclops even has a testy interview in one of the episodes where he calls out the humans. I thought it worked well and in a lot of ways it reminds me of Superman in Justice League Unlimited who was also starting to show a lot of cracks in his cheery disposition.

The biggest drama for Cyclops is the arrival of a second Jean Grey. It turns out that he has been with a clone for a long time now and the only question is for how long has it been the clone? The show is careful to keep this rather ambiguous so it could have been days, weeks, or even years. It’s got to be a very weird situation to be in and Cyclops admittedly doesn’t handle it all that well. The relationship with him and both Jeans gets to be very rocky. It’s not always his fault though as after a while it gets convoluted enough where all 3 of them start to make mistakes. For what it’s worth, Cyclops always does his best but he should have definitely talked straight up with both of them more. His biggest mistake was being real secretive the whole time, like meeting up with one of the Jeans in secret mind melds.

Madelyne (The first Jean) is a solid character as she is the one whose life is really tossed upside down. She is labeled as the clone and overnight all of her friends basically go to the other Jean. It makes sense since it’s not like there is anything debatable about this. The blood test results are quite certain but to Madelyne, her memories all feel real. This basically results in her needing to leave the mansion and from there things really don’t go well for her at all. It does feel like a bit of wasted potential though because we see how immensely powerful she is and then she basically doesn’t get another fight. I do think she could have gotten a bit more to do.

As for Jean, she ends up being on the more timid side for a while since everything is rather awkward to her. She has the memories but doesn’t know which ones are hers so it’s almost like she’s a stranger now. Her whole relationship with Cyclops is certainly strained. By the end of the series she is starting to come into her own again although one moment did not feel particularly earned. The series wrote itself into a bit of a jam with how powerful one of the villains was so Jean had to get a real sudden power up. We’ll see how that ends up developing in the next season.

Wolverine doesn’t get a whole lot to do in this season. He does do well in the fights that he does get and lends a really good hit on Magneto. I would have liked for him to have gotten more to do but at least he didn’t waste a single scene. I do have to dock some points for him on the quick fling with one of the Jeans though. He could have done more to prevent the moment from happening and naturally it was a bad look for that Jean as well. His romance plot was always rather shaky because he is effectively acting like a homewrecker always causing trouble. He really needs to do a better job of sealing his feelings off.

Then we have Morph who is probably the worst at using his abilities. He is not only able to transform into other people but he gets their abilities as well. He can seemingly pick any mutant as we se him pick powerful ones like the Juggernaut at times. So why would you ever pick someone as weak as Deathstrike or some of the other street level fighters? Keep on picking the Hulk and Quicksilver. It’s a fun way to make a lot of guest stars appear but you do have to stretch your disbelief when he gets tagged while being the Quicksilver for example. I assume his copies do have some severe limits but super speed is super speed. If he ever learns how to fight then Morph will really be a fighter to be reckoned with. Compared to the rest of the X-Men he doesn’t seem to have had his big character arc yet so I’ll be expecting that to show up in season 2.

Same with Bishop who appears early on to lose against some thugs and then returns at the very end to aura farm a bit. Bishop’s powers are really handy with hos he can absorb energy and fire it back. He should easily be one of the heavy hitters here so I am expecting big things from him. Generally he’s not quite as fun as Cable but this is his chance to outshine the other guy. Cable looks good as always. He really does his best to keep on changing the past so it’s always tough when the future remains bleak. After a point you have to assume that the future is just doomed to be a dark one no matter what happens. It’s almost as if the Marvel Universe is always doomed to destruction. Still, he never gives up.

Then we have two characters in Jubilee and Roberto who get a fairly big role. Roberto is the newest member to the group and he tries to keep his mutant identity a secret. I feel like the reasons should be fairly obvious but this doesn’t stop Jubilee from putting a whole mountain of pressure on the guy. After a while you really feel bad for him because I would want to keep it a secret as well. Mutants are constantly being hunted and the ki is rich so now it will be a double target. Sure enough, things do not go very well once he does reveal his identity. I didn’t think that Jubilee was particularly patient on this and later on when they end up fighting, Roberto has to try and be the voice of reason while Jubilee is out for blood. Jubilee may have gotten older but she still feels immature. I will give her props for battling well in the Modok level though. It was easily her best appearance as she used a whole lot of strategy to come out on top there. Things could have easily gone sideways otherwise. She is still a fun character but the romance didn’t make her look particularly good. In general the pairing just didn’t seem to work very well with how easy it was to pull apart.

Then we have Storm and Forge which takes the cake as the most boring plot. Like I said in the intro, it’s the only part that I just didn’t care about. So Storm loses her powers and Forge helps her out but naturally there is some drama and then he also begins to like her. The romance is rather fast and Storm is a bit too emotional the whole time. I think she heavily overreacted when finding out the kind of technology that he was working on. The random demon that showed up was pretty interesting but then ended up being taken away too soon. I think the idea of this plot could have been interesting but it just dragged on a bit too much. It also could have helped if Storm had looked more impressive in the opening instead of being taken out by some random humans.

The Beast has his own romantic subplot where he is a jerk to a reporter right away. Yet another superficial romance plot where one misstep causes a lot of friction. I blamed Beast on most of this because he didn’t really give her a chance. Beast generally didn’t have much to do in this season which isn’t really his fault though. I’m guessing he will be doing a whole lot more in the next season. Nightcrawler didn’t appear until later on in the season and yet his role was felt a whole lot quicker. He does well in the fights and the teleporting is always really cool. It’s the kind of ability that you really want to have on your side because of how versatile it is. That can always be handy in a fight.

Time for Rogue and Gambit which is naturally a whole magnet for drama. They were always flirting back in the old days but would let the status quo stay the same. Well, now Gambit waited too long and Rogue is drifting around which ends up causing a lot of regrets for both of them. To Gambit’s side, he can only blame himself for not trying to make things more official sooner. By waiting he really did not put himself in a great spot. He does get some pretty cool fight scenes though and generally did a good job in the series.

I’m afraid Rogue comes across as way too indecisive the whole time. She’s rather petty with Captain America and then can’t stop herself from crossing the line later on. While I have no issues with her big decision near the end of the series, it would have probably worked better if not for a lot of the baggage from earlier on in the series. So you could say that things really did not go her way. Her powers look impressive as always though, she is easily one of the strongest X-Men.

There are a solid array of villains running around here. I enjoyed both Gyrich and Trask as always. They have been meddling in the X-Men’s way for a very long time and are up to their old trick. Up to a point you almost have to respect their endless determination here. They will continue doing everything they can in order to destroy the humans until they are stopped. Everyone knows it and yet they are hard to stop. The show deals with this theme as well but a whole lot of humans openly support them. It’s why even in Jail they are able to get big updates on what is going on in the outside world as well as tools on what to do next.

Master Mold even gets a little bit to do here. The first iteration doesn’t look all that impressive but the second one is on point. You’d think sentinels are old hat by this point but the show finds a way to make them still look impressive. I suppose at the end of the day with enough of them they will always be fairly powerful. Sinister also gets to show up and does pretty well in his fights. The guy has always been a fairly strong combatant who just ends up picking fights with opponents who are stronger than him each time. Not a good recipe for success of course and he definitely finds that out the hard way each time. I do think they’ve done about as much as they can with him though so I don’t think the guy needs to appear much more in the future.

Bastion gets a big role near the end but I can’t say that I bought into his backstory all that much. Yeah he had a rough past but that’s true for so many characters in this series. He didn’t have to fully go evil or anything like that. So he’s fully responsible for what’s going on and should have made better life choices if he didn’t want it to go like this. His design and abilities are pretty cool though. Definitely makes for some pretty fun fights.

There are also a ton of guest stars throughout the series with more minor X-Men characters showing up as well as people completely unrelated like Avengers and other figures. I definitely appreciated this because it makes the universe feel that much bigger. Yes, you can end up questioning where the heroes are during other event and that’s valid but showing them on occasion is better than nothing. I also have high hopes that in the next season we will see a bit more of an active role from some. It’s best not to get your hopes too high of course. This is still an X-Men series but I can actually picture an Avengers vs X-Men series now which would definitely be really cool. There is a lot of build up for it after all. The trick will be in not making the Avengers appear to be complete government lackeys but since the X-Men are always infighting it’s possible that the X-Men will even end up being the villains here. In the comics it would usually depend on the writer for the tie-in/event.

There are probably over 100 different guest stars across the series and so keeping that balance throughout the seasons will definitely be the key part. Still, if any series can do it, this one can. As the first big revival season, it’ll be difficult to defeat this one but still season 2 could have a shot. In the meantime the series certainly succeeded on a technical level as well. I enjoyed the opening remix as well as the general tunes during the show. The animation may not be as good as the original show but they did a good job of emulating the look and I would say that it worked out pretty well. There were some real crisp cuts in the fights for several episodes.

One thing that the show continues to do really well is challenge you with moral debates as well. The X-Men go through a whole lot of difficult ordeals, both physically and mentally. This season is no different as the heroes have to fight against their own extinction and there are several ways to go about it. So the debates with Magneto vs Xavier, Madelyne vs Jean, and others are all very interesting. The fights don’t tend to be one sided as you can make good cases both ways but it’s good practice as a thought experiment for you to think about it and pick a side. As for the romance drama, well that’s gonna be more of a miss generally but I suppose even that is usually handled with some tact. Although most of the romances still end up getting a thumbs down.

The show ends off with some pretty big cliffhangers for season 2. I would say it was about 50/50 for me in terms of excitement. I really liked the stinger in the present timeline as this villain is always really exciting. That should make for some great entertainment. The plot in the past? Eh, I don’t really care so much about that one. It’s an origin that’s fairly straight forward unless they throw in some curveballs. The future should be fun as that always tends to be the best era. So a lot to look forward to in season 2, we’ll have to see how it stacks up against season 1. I would say the only worrisome element will be if we don’t spend a lot of time in the present since the guest stars were really starting to exert their presence and this will feel like they’re stalling for season 3 to be the big Marvel crossover event season.

Overall, X Men 97 was definitely a great series. It really goes by quickly and every episode was really exciting. The animation does a good job of emulating the original series and of course the ost is solid as well. This is a show that has nailed all of the fundamentals and so it is not a surprise that the product ends up being great. I can really recommend it to anyone and while watching the original series will give you the greatest level of enjoyment, you can jump into this one and still have a real blast. Episode 1 gives you all that you need to know about who the X-Men are and what they stand for.

Overall 8/10

Joy in the Morning Review

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They say that the best relationships involve two people who are friends as well as lovers. After all, you want to be able to hold a conversation together and should have some common interests right? Well that’s where things start to get rocky here because it just doesn’t feel like these two would be friends, let alone be married. There is basically nonstop drama here with both characters going quite far to the point where you can’t picture things going well. They’re just way too sensitive.

The film starts off with Annie and Carl messing around under the stairs where they are caught by her folks. They decide to quickly get married and dash off but things will not be easy. Carl isn’t financially sound quite yet and is having to work multiple jobs here in addition to his studies. They have a nice place to live but are very low on spending money. Meanwhile Annie wants to do her best to be a good wife but can be a bit naive and also succumbs to peer pressure like wanting to fit in and wear nice things. Soon the tension starts to climb up and the two characters will have to find a way to make things work.

Now when you’re broke and in a relationship, it’s only going to work if both people know what they’re getting into and are fine with it. The problem is that often they will say that they are okay and won’t actually feel that way. A good example is when Annie gets Carl a gift but he doesn’t have one for her. He even says that they talked about it and she admits that she lied about not needing a present. Definitely a bad look on her part there because that was the arrangement. Then there’s another instance where she spends money on a new outfit when it could have been put to use on more practical things. On the other hand Carl takes a job where he will be away all nights so now Annie will be by herself. Yeah it helps with the money but that’s another case where it’s better to be broke.

On the whole I was typically more on Carl’s side than Annie’s but they both made their share of mistakes. I’d say the problem is that most of their issues felt like things they should have discussed prior or could have discussed in the moment without it becoming such a big deal. Annie became friends with a local flower guy for example and Carl was super jealous so he would cause a scene right away. Causing a scene there wasn’t cool but he absolutely would have had a valid case for explaining to her afterwards that this friendship was trouble.

I’m not going for the Hollywood approach that guys and girls cannot be friends because that’s crazy but it was clear that she was being naive about the whole thing. She would let him get way too close like taking her shoes off and basically giving her a massage while they talked. Cmon now, that is an accident waiting to happen. So Carl has every right to be worried when she is acting like that but again, talking would have been a good first step here. Then Annie is dealing with a lot of trauma due to some rough events from her past and they come up on several occasions as she feels like she basically can’t be with Carl at times.

It comes and goes and it can be hard to predict when this will happen which is the roughest part for Carl. There’s no easy way to get past that but it would definitely continue to be a huge stumbling block in their marriage until it can be figured out. There are just so many problems they have throughout the film and by the end it really feels like they went past the point of no return. If anything the ending just tells you that things are going to get a whole lot worse because throwing another life into the equation is often just going to expand the range of issues.

The core problem for both characters is that they are way too emotional. Again, Carl isn’t quite as bad about this but he still does have the problem. Until they can properly talk like grown ups, the issues are only going to keep on coming. The parents get a sudden 180 character shift for the ending to give the appearance that things will go well but I get the feeling that will change again before long. They did not seem like the nicest of people on either side and that doesn’t tend to change.

At the end of the day, a big problem for the film is that because of all these elements, it’s just not a very fun title. For the most part it’s dramatic in a sad way where there isn’t going to be much of a happy ending over the horizon. The film’s tone just doesn’t seem to match the actual ending. It felt like the couple’s futile attempts at having a happy ending and for this kind of film to work it definitely needed them to reconcile a whole lot sooner. They’re at odds for almost 80% of the film I would say and only get a quick happy ending in the last minutes. Not sure how I feel about the flower guy being around as well. Yes in the end he turned out to not be a bad guy and we the audience know it, but Carl doesn’t. The film would have needed some scenes to show them becoming friends first. In a way that circles back to the earlier point which is that the film is too dreary. So scenes like this could have absolutely helped to fix that.

The writing is good enough and on the whole it’s not like this is a super hardcore dark film. It just feels like the film mistimed itself on the pacing. Maybe there should have been more time at the school. Cut out the plot about the heroine working for the rich folks with all of their moral bankruptcy struggles. You don’t really need that and the whole speech she gave about how sometimes people do bad things because they have a reason was a full miss for me. We don’t need those weak justifications. So skip that and use the extra time for some positive messages.

Overall, This film shows off the importance of not rushing into anything. Dating and courtships are around for a reason and that’s so you can get to know the other person first. Marriage can run purely on love but it’s not always going to lead to a happy outcome. By getting to know the other person for a while, you can at least make sure you have common ground on the things that matter. A film like this can try to show off a happy ending but with what went on during this adventure, most times it would not end up going quite so well. So that’s really something to keep in mind here. I’d definitely recommend watching something a bit lighter toned like Jingle All The Way.

Overall 3/10

Twilight of Honor Review

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It’s time for a classic courtroom drama filled with lots of twists and turns. It’s a pretty solid film that is definitely dealing with a hart hitting case. That said, by the end of it there aren’t many likable characters involved with this mystery. At the end of the day, David the lawyer isn’t here to make friends but to see to it that he wins the case. He will be up against one of the toughest prosecutors in the land though so it won’t be easy. One wrong move and it’s curtains for him.

So lets get to the case. Ben is on trial for the murder of a very well respected and liked lawman. This guy seemed to know everybody and on the surface had a spotless record. What’s even worse is that Ben’s own wife Laura is against him and claims that her husband had been abusive for a long time. This murder was not in self defense or for her honor, it was all about him. Everyone believes Ben is guilty and so the trial is a formality but that’s when they rope in David as the lawyer. David didn’t want this case but now that he’s got it, he’s going to fight his hardest to win. Can he find enough straw to pull this case apart or is he absolutely doomed? Only time will tell.

First off, Ben really doesn’t make David’s job any easier. The guy is really obsessed with his wife. Not in a chivalrous way where he wants her to be okay, but in a tier 1 sub way where he just worships her to the point of losing clarity. He doesn’t seem to care how standoffish she is or the fact that she turned him in for cash. He just desperately wants her approval since he never got it before. The poor guy is a completely broken man. Usually in a case like this where your life is at stake, you will be trying your best to stay in the game so that would have been what David expected. No, Ben stays vague and unhelpful until David really pressures him.

Of course Laura’s not a good character either. I just tend to be harsher on Ben because he should have known better. “How you get her is how you lose her”, a variation of that is a classic saying for a reason. Laura was never the very traditional type and loyalty wasn’t her specialty. When you marry someone like that you are really asking for trouble and Ben found that out first hand. Throughout the movie Laura never improves as a character which is intentional. You could call her the soft antagonist of the film.

The main antagonist is Norris of course. The guy didn’t commit any crimes but he is an impressive prosecutor. He knows all of the tricks and is aiming to win. Justice isn’t the end game for this guy, he is trying to garner support for an election someday. So he even has the crying old ladies walk in dramatically during the hearing. Now this is annoying for David of course but at the end of the day in court both sides are going to do their best in order to win. I would say the irony of working in a courtroom setting is that you aren’t playing for justice anymore. Even if you know that your client is guilty, you are obligated to fight your best. So even though Norris had questionable motives, it’s not like I can fault him for going for the win every time.

Unfortunately the film does have a very underwhelming romance subplot that had no point being in the film. We meet Susan who has always liked David even while he was married and so she has been biding his time. Now that David has been widowed, she has her chance and takes it. She is constantly encouraged to do this by her father and all but this just plays out like a rebound no matter how you slice it. I also think it’s always a bit rough to know that this person liked you even while you were married. David really needed to sidestep the whole thing and tell Susan they could stay as friends or something.

Life comes at you fast but in this case it was just too fast. Art made for a fun mentor otherwise though. He was really invested in the case and gave a lot of good advice. It is clear why he was regarded as such a good attorney back in the day. If he was healthier then he probably could have won the whole case right away. Naturally as the case goes on we find out more and more how the victim was not quite as innocent as the reputation would have you believe. Additionally, Laura wasn’t the most trustworthy of witnesses.

At the end the Jury certainly had a lot to think about and the movie really followed the proper steps in how to handle the drama well. The evidence trickles in and my only complaint would be that I wish we could have gotten more screentime for the rebuttals. We basically skip a lot in the climax to get to David’s closing remarks but I wanted to see them going at it more. After all, those were usually the best parts of the film. I also enjoyed the openly corrupt judge who didn’t even bother with trying to appear fair. It was only after things were really over the top that he started to do anything.

The weakest parts of the film are naturally when we are seeing the flashbacks into what happened. None of the characters in those flashbacks are the slightest bit likable after all so you’re just waiting to go back to the present where we can have some real dialogue and action. The flashbacks are probably a good idea for people to keep up with what’s going on but honestly I would have been fine without them. Just let us picture what is happening in our heads like the jury as the two sides explain their account of the events. That would be a more effective way if you ask me although I imagine this may not be a popular sentiment since people probably enjoy seeing the actual events.

Overall, Twilight of Honor is a pretty good movie. It’s a solid reminder to not believe everything you hear at face value. People always have motives even if they aren’t readily apparent and knowing his to discern truth from fiction is a rather big skill. It’s definitely something you really have to work at over time. If you get enough experience in it, then you will be in a safer spot. Best thing to do is always to evaluate people and facts on your own. Second hand sources are just that, second hand. While the characters in the actual case are all annoying and antagonistic, it doesn’t take away from this being a well written film of high quality.

Overall 7/10

Meg 2: The Trench Review

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It’s time for the big sequel to the original Meg title. The first one wasn’t exactly a top caliber film and unfortunately neither is this one. The Trench certainly does throw in a whole lot more action when it comes to the human combatants but it will also be a long while until you see the Sharks in action. In a sense that can be a good thing for the film since the sharks are usually going to be the title’s downfall. At the same time, you know they will show up eventually so either way it’s not like this will have much of an effect long term. In that case, you might as well get it over with. Sure enough, the film does fall into old habits at that point.

The film focuses around Jonas who has been fighting off eco-terrorists and saving the day from the shadows. His crew is also busy raising one of the Megs and Jiuming is even so overconfident as to think that the Meg won’t eat him. This puts him into danger almost immediately but somehow he manages to get to safety. Everyone tells him what a bad idea this is but he doesn’t care. The heroes go further into the ocean than they had planned and end up finding out that there are several Megs. They just won’t have time to do much about this because of an insurrection. Turns out corporate still has a few tricks up their sleeve and now the heroes will be stuck underwater…forever. Can Jonas figure a way out of here?

A good chunk of the film is really an underwater survival mission. How do you get out of a submarine with no escape pods left and the villains watching your every move? This will definitely make you even more paranoid about being left so far under the sea. It’s just not a good business move especially when it seems like there is a traitor behind every door. Corporate doesn’t have the greatest of plans here as they basically pull a Jurassic World but we have the villainous smirks and cackling throughout the film which is the real important thing. You can tell that these villains really think the world of themselves.

Jonas is a solid lead as always. He is a solid fighter and doesn’t underestimate the terrors of the deep. He is always the voice of reason here and ultimately is the one to get things done. Without him the rest of the crew would not have lasted more than a few minutes. They are seriously outmatched without him there at all times. That’s why Jonas is the head honcho after all.

Meiying is supposed to be the fun child character but she does tend to be more on the annoying side. Stowing away on a dangerous underwater adventure is really not the play. She may have some scientific knowledge that comes in handy from time to time but she also spends a whole lot of time just slowing everyone down. She is physically unable to compete when the going gets tough and that is exactly why kids stay out of missions like this.

Unfortunately Jiuming may be even worse at times. He was a second away from completely traumatizing the kid by getting eaten by the Meg. He was way too confident in his sonar gadget and should have been doing a whole lot of further test studies before actually getting in the ocean. He had to rely on pure luck to stay alive and I can tell you now that this is not a good meter for success. You can’t count on luck to bail you out of every opportunity. That’s just not happening, it’s not a good way to play the odds.

The guy doesn’t really learn his lesson as he is constantly running into danger. Now you may be wondering if every character was completely unprepared for action but I can at least say that DJ was ready. This guy decided to properly arm himself in case the going got tough. Some would call him paranoid, I would call him realistic. This is exactly the kind of initiative I like to see in these events. He had some hand to hand skills, a taser, and other miscellaneous equipment. He saves the day on several accounts here. Every time you think DJ is done, he pulls something else out of his toolbox.

He really stole the show in his quick scenes here. I wish I could say the same about the villains. The lady had a great line though where she asks if another villain is crying. That about sums up how threatening these guys are to be honest. This does give us a chance to give Jonas a solid one liner as he kicks someone off a bridge later on though. When the film leans into a little bit of cheesy behavior, you know that it has a ton of confidence. On the whole the film had a good blend of action and humor. I would say the tone was solid and the fight scenes even had some good choreography. One mistake the film had was in having the best action scene be at the very beginning of the film though. When you peak that early there are always going to be some problems.

So like I said the sharks don’t appear for a while. Unless you count the opening scene I suppose. So the film was mainly doing good but once the Sharks show up then the animal violence begins. One of the big problems with creature films like this is how the monsters don’t actually end up being all that scary. The main character is ultimately able to take a few on with just basic equipment after all. Not the best look for these creatures right? So sadly they are stabbed and blown up. Also the opening scene is fairly graphic with all of the animals getting chopped.

It’s why the creature genre tends to be doomed on arrival. Either the monsters show up and get crushed, or they don’t appear much and you were in a whole bait and switch operation. In either event, the film is probably not going to get the highest score. I would say if you take out all of the animals then this could have been an easy 6 out of 10. Throw in all of the shark bashing and of course it’s going to go lower. Props to the film for not bumping off the dog though, now that would have been really crossing the line.

Overall, Meg 2 feels impressively long but I can’t tell if that’s a good thing and the writers packed a lot in or it means that the pacing was a bit slower than I thought. Either way if you’re here for the sharks then you may find the first half way too slow but if you’re here for the character banter then the second half may not match up for you. If you’re a Dinosaur film then you’ll probably have a good time here because their role is way bigger than I thought it would be. Personally I figured that would maybe just be the opening scene or something but they actually stick around. I think it’s probably time for this series to retire but if we get a third then the only way to top this will be to finally add aliens or something like that.

Overall 3/10

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Review

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It’s time for the big prequel to the classic Hunger Games story. Since we already know how corrupt the place is, you can assume that this’ll be more of a sad story right from the start. The movie does not disappoint in this regard as it is all quite dreary for most of its run. The film does a good job of not being over the top gritty though. The kills don’t tend to be too bloody with the wort of the wounds effectively being off screen. It’s certainly not a feel good movie but one that serves as a cautionary tale to be careful who you trust.

The movie starts by introducing us to Snow who pretends that he is one of the spoiled rich kids in order to survive at a prestigious school for long enough to win an award and actually get rich. His family was rich for a time so nobody suspects anything but this year there is a wrinkle in the plan. The Hunger Games have not been getting great ratings so they are spicing things up with the mentor system. Snow will have to try and make sure that his tribute, Lucy, survives through the tournament at least long enough to prove that he is the best mentor. Can he pull this off or are the games too rigged for that?

There are definitely quite a few things against Snow here, one of them is the teacher. This guy can’t stand Snow and openly says that he will do his best to wreck the guy’s life. When that is the person standing in your way, it is difficult to win any kind of prize. Fortunately the game master is on Snow’s side so he still has a chance. Thing is, he has to try and connect with Lucy which will be difficult since the tributes naturally dislike the people from the capital.

The tributes are given no choice but to compete in these games with their whole families held hostage in the meantime so they can’t even properly resist. If they make the wrong move then they will all be destroyed. Meanwhile, nearly all of the tributes are doomed to die anyway so it is a really rough system. It shows how barbaric the future state of the world is as everyone just watches these games and treats it like a normal thing. Ratings have gone down which is a good thing but it’s definitely not enough to shut the whole thing down.

The toughest part about a dystopia film like this is finding someone to root for. After all, most of the characters are going to be downright antagonistic right from the start. You’re not really rooting for Snow because he is pretty bad himself. Yeah he gets some sympathy points for not actually being rich and just doing his best to hang in there but at the same time he’s been living the life for so long that he may as well be one of those rich kids. Snow plays up to whoever has power and you can tell that he will not be a revolutionary.

Snow gradually gets worse and worse as the film goes on. Not everything is his fault but a lot of the situations are ones that he gets himself into. It’s hard for anyone to make a difference in this kind of world but in the end Snow definitely didn’t do much to change the world. If anything, his ideas for a more cruel Hunger Games may have made things worse. Sure, the combatants will get some better privileges in the lead up to the games but at the same time this will make the games run longer which has a rougher long term effect.

Initially I figured the games would be most of the climax but surprisingly there is quite a bit of story even after that. We get to see more of the lives in the District and how rough those are. Even when things seem happy, there is the underlining fear of knowing that any year you could be chosen for the Hunger Games. You can’t truly live a happy life with the specter of death right behind you like that. It’s just not possible and will only make things rougher and rougher for them all.

Sejanus is the only guy who really tries to make a difference. On one hand yo can respect that but he always does so in the sloppiest ways possible. The guy ends up looking gullible and slow on the uptake. He’s not good at keeping secrets and his half hearted plans don’t help anyone out long term. So he still beats Snow because it’s better to have a bad plan than no plan but you’d think that this guy could have done a lot better. He wins bravery points for talking back in such a dictatorship but couldn’t do much more than that.

Meanwhile for Lucy, she’s not a bad heroine but also seems to not be the best at strategy. I don’t see how she could allow herself to be close to Snow at all considering the circumstances. Even with the actions Snow did during the games, you would always assume that he is against you. The odds of this guy actually being a good person would just be near 0%. He was keeping lots of secrets and lies the whole time after all. Fortunately she eventually finds enough out to get out of there but otherwise that whole plot felt a bit forced to me. In the actual games she did well to last a while but definitely took a whole lot of risks. She wasn’t quite as memorable and hungry for battle as Katniss.

One weakness for prequels is that you roughly know all of the story beats that are going to happen so it does put a lot of extra pressure on the movie to execute the plot extremely well. Any mistakes will feel extra heavy as a result of already knowing the layout. I would say the film does a fine job. It does drag on a little at different points but it still a good movie. You will stay interested but I do think cutting out maybe 15-20 minutes would have made a good difference here. The length just doesn’t make sense with a much shorter Hunger Games like what we saw here.

Overall, A lot of the characters seem a bit gullible here like one guy drinking from a vial dropped off with a bunch of other stuff from someone who clearly despised him. It may not seem like a big thing but in such a cutthroat world, you’d imagine that everyone would have their guards up at all times. The same thing goes for the student who was murdered at the zoo or Sejanus in his various plights. The characters don’t always act like they’re in a sudden death world. You could say that they were simply too sheltered in the rich world and lacked common sense but at the same time that can only go so far. Well, suspend your disbelief and just follow the story along. It’s still interesting enough to get you past the main issues.

Overall 6/10

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review

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I can definitely see why this one has such a low score compared to the average Marvel production. For the most part this barely even feels like a superhero movie. Whoever decided to make an Ant-Man film that is far less about Scott running around and more about sci-fi lore should have had some second thoughts. All of the film’s issues can be traced back to one thing…..nobody cares about the Quantum realm. It’s got to be one of the more boring settings that I’ve seen in years and feels like it’s trying hard to stand out and instead gets shown up by just about every sci-fi environment before it. Ah well, at least we do have some fun fights.

The film starts off with Scott enjoying life. He helped save the world and his family is back. Things could not be going better for him…well until his daughter gets arrested again. She has been flying further and further off the deep end and it doesn’t help that the rest of Scott’s family almost seem supportive of her getting arrested. When Scott tries to shut this down, they make fun of his book because these are some of the most annoying, pettiest side characters I’ve seen since The Devil Wears Prada. They all seem jealous of Scott saving the world and it’s completely unwarranted since he’s such a nice guy. He’s not being a jerk about it or anything. Ah well, Cassie thought it would be a brilliant idea to send signals to the Quantum Realm and this causes everyone to be warped in there. Can they escape this tyrannical realm before certain twists tear this family apart?

Now you may be thinking that since Scott is basically the only real likable member of the Ant Man family that this film will be a way for everyone else to become tolerable? Well, unfortunately the film only has the opposite effect of that. The Wasp is probably the best out of the main supporting characters but she was actually more fun in the last one. The Quantum Realm brings out the worst in most characters although it brings out the best in one of the antagonists though so I’ll give the film some credit there.

Darren finally returns! The guy gets so much hype and recognition. Every time he shows up, the characters exclaim “Darren!” In a really puzzles but excited way. It’s sort of like when you’re at a party and you finally bump into someone that you know. So that was pretty cool and definitely worked out pretty well. He is now known as MODOK but it’s not like he’s a very serious character so his best scenes are when he takes the visor off. He had the best jokes throughout the movie. Yeah he gets some serious moments by the end but for the most part you will be remembering the laughs. It’s another glimpse of what the film could have been. Imagine a lot of banter between him and Scott above ground. Now that would have been fun.

Scott is still a good main character. He tends to carry his scenes and most of his dialogue is just good fun. He can banter with the best of characters. Scott may not be the best fighter but he’s a good dad just trying to help his family out of a jam. The guy endures quite a lot of damage and punishing blows throughout the movie with no real complaints either. I’d say he’s generally one of the most likable Avengers at this point.

That’s why the Quantum Realm is such a waste. You just don’t really care about Kang’s empire or the resistance group fighting against him. It just feels like the most generic war possible and we don’t get enough out of the characters to really be invested. The backgrounds are more boring than cool and of course the film can’t resist going with the disgusting ooze angle a few times like with the controls or having to drink some to understand the aliens. It really felt like the writers had no idea what to do with this place.

Then this place also destroyed Janet as a character. He was around here for a while and basically got into an affair. You’re hoping the whole time that maybe it wasn’t as bad as you’re thinking, only for rebound guy to confirm it. Janet’s excuse is also the worst possible one as she talks about having needs. That’s the lamest thing I’ve heard in a minute. Her constant secrets are also why everything fell into disarray so this film destroyed any possible character she could have had prior. There is just no coming back from this.

Meanwhile Hank is just way too passive about the whole thing. He’s very chill upon learning about this and then also admits he went on some dates himself. It’s all such weak stuff and then Hank is sidelined for a large part of the film. He does end up helping out with his ants later on but the main problem is that in a film like this there just wasn’t much to do. It’s not even a particularly action packed movie as things don’t really get explosive until the climax. Until then it’s mainly a lot of setup and lore.

Then we have Cassie and a whole lot of this is her fault after all. Shrinking cop cars and breaking the law is bad enough but then messing with the Quantum Realm when she knew Janet had been stuck there for decades. It seems like Cassie was mainly doing this out of curiosity which is not a great motive. It’s not like she was getting ready to save tons of lives or anything like that. Yeah I can’t give her a pass on this either. It’s just such a bad look for her all the way around. Of course by the end she has found a cause worth fighting for and does her best but it’s more like a broken clock finally getting the time right. I need to see some real character development that stuck for her in the next film.

Hope isn’t bad but it feels like she spends a good chunk of the intro to the film just smirking in the background as opposed to actually backing Scott up. I do appreciate that she is always a lot quicker to action though. Her suit is basically always on and she also didn’t panic with her alternate version copies as much. every group needs a good fighter an she does thrive in that role. So I may not be her biggest fan but I do appreciate her in a fight and she is definitely the backup that Scott needed.

As for good ole Kang the Conqueror, he just looks way too wimpy here. Yeah you could say it was part of his plan but his first appearance just makes him look so small and weak. Even once he has the tech back, you’re telling me he couldn’t react fast enough to stop Janet initially? Then having any trouble with Scott later on is rough. You really have two options here. Either his tech isn’t as good as he thinks it is and he never beat the Avengers in the past, or he is an absolutely terrible combatant who squanders his tech the whole time. Either way it is not a good look for him.

I would not be able to take him seriously to handle a big team of fighters so I’m definitely cool with the character being written out. We get two post credit scenes involving him and they’re more funny than anything. Kang really thought he could do something. The guest stars in the second scene were a lot more fun. Especially with one character completely calling Kang out the way I would have in the audience. He just doesn’t look that imposing at all and this film really sealed the deal there.

Overall, This film had its moments but the beginning and ending were easily the best parts. I wanted more of the surface world which always has a lot of fun to it. I usually like a good sci-fi environment but the world building for the Quantum Realm was just way too boring. The film did not do enough to justify its focus within the story. Ultimately that took a big toll on the film and it could have used some more action to keep you interested. There’s really on replay value to be had here or any reason to really watch the film. So for that reason you could probably skip this one and jump to the next film that really counts. Of course if you do plan to watch the movie, it’s not like it is a bad experience or anything so you’ll be fine. Just don’t expect a classic Ant-Man light hearted adventure.

Overall 5/10