Edge of the City Review

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When you think of the Edge of the City odds are that you’re thinking of either IHop in uptown Manhattan or the Domino’s at West 4th street if you’re in NYC. Those two places seem to be around the edges of each direction before you feel like you’re not in the city anymore. Well, in this film we have a warehouse near the water so you feel like you’re on the edge. Most of the film is rather good but the ending is definitely one of those film crushers. It really takes away from the feeling of accomplishment that you had in the film up to that point and it just felt unnecessary. There’s no way back at that point.

The movie starts with Axel arriving in town and needing a job. He uses an old connection to force his way in but now works for the corrupt Charlie. Charlie doesn’t treat any of his workers well and bullies Axel quite a bit since he has quite a lot of leverage there. He’s also racist towards Tommy but doesn’t have as much leeway there since Tommy is also one of the bosses in the company and doesn’t put up with anything like that. Tommy befriends Axel and convinces him to shift departments. They have a good working relationship and things are going well but Axel’s past is slowly catching up to him. Can Axel stay afloat or will it be time to flee?

From the start it’s clear that Axel is hiding a lot of secrets and those never stay buried for long. It’s a shame because due to this everyone seems to have leverage over him. In particular Charlie uses this to his advantage as he first takes money away from each of Axel’s paychecks and then only escalates his behavior from there. It’s why they say once you start running you will never stop. My main issue with Axel is how secretive he is about all of this until it’s too late. I think he could have at least told Tommy his story a little sooner instead of breaking it up into chunks over and over again until he could finally piece the whole thing together.

Axel acts tough but is never able to keep his cool. His empty calls to his parents were also a bit annoying after a while. Calling without saying anything doesn’t help either party. They were a lot more understanding about the situation than he had been giving them credit for as well. Still, the biggest slight to Axel’s character is how he handles the ending. That’s the part that really gets him. To go any further with that would be a spoiler so I’ll have to leave it at this. He is given multiple opportunities to ensure that justice is dealt and each time he decides instead to stay quiet and to flee. He absolutely should have fought hard to break through the people holding him back since this was all on him. Even after that though, he absolutely shouldn’t have just sat there and did nothing. When things got tough Axel didn’t step up and that’s a big shame.

Meanwhile Tommy is a good character. He adds a lot of good humor to the film and is also the voice of reason. He does his best to keep pushing Axel in the fight direction. Nothing gets him down and he is always determined to have a good time. He breaks up a whole lot of fights in the film so the situation would have definitely escalated a lot more without him there to oversee things. He’s easily the best character in the film. Meanwhile his wife Lucy is also a very solid character. They’ve got a good dynamic going. The other heroine gets less of a role. She seems decent but the romance with Axel seems rather fast and forced. Particularly since he does little to actually try and further the romance without a lot of prodding from his friends.

Charlie is the main villain of the film and he makes sure to remind you of this in pretty much every scene. He plays the part rather well as the guy clearly has something over just about everyone on the force. It’s why he can get away with so much since he can expose anyone who gets in his way. It makes you see why it would be so hard for one of the characters to rebel against him. After all, if you cross him then you’ll find yourself out of a job real quick. Still no excuse for Axel’s actions but you can see why nobody else would step up.

The writing is good and the movie does a solid job of balancing out the serious tone with more light hearted moments. Most of the film you could say is rather upbeat but at the same time you know things are going to take a turn. That feeling of dread is why I wouldn’t call this a cheerful film outright. It’s like watching Resident Evil or something. Even if there are a bunch of happy moments at some points like that scene in the town, you know that it won’t last so was it really a happy scene through and through? At the very least Axel and Tommy had a lot of great scenes.

The ending is one of the most important parts of a film though and this movie just couldn’t stick the landing. The last event just feels unnecessary. It would work better in an action blockbuster kind of film because with a lot of battles and going up against big enemies it’s reasonable for this to happen. For a more down to life film like this it’s just pretty tragic. It’s not like this is a movie where you would expect a sequel so there’s no reason to end it like this. What should be a triumphant film at the end just feels like it’s too little too late.

Overall, Edge of the City is a film that I would have recommended for most of its run but after that ending I would have to give it a thumbs down in the end. It’s just not the way you want to end a film like this. Switch the ending and the film instantly rebounds but as it stands you don’t feel like the heroes really got a proper win here. I’d suggest checking out a different film instead like To Sir, with Love which has a more wholesome ending or A Raisin in the Sun. Both of those films are complete titles that do have endings which hold up well.

Overall 4/10

Kirby Star Allies Review

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This game has been on my list for a while at this point and now I’ve finally gotten to give it a whirl. Nintendo always delivers when it comes to quality platforming and naturally this game is no different. Kirby has a lot of solid level designs here and there definitely aren’t any real issues or glitches to speak of. The game is quite short though so you’ll be done with it very quickly. While there is a lot of replay value to be found here through other modes, it does keep the game from reaching the next level.

Star Allies starts off with a new threat attacking the world. Everyone is being mind controlled at the moment so they can’t help but embrace the dark power of a shadow heart. Kirby is the only one who can resist so he now has to go through various worlds to stop all of the corrupted. Along the way he will mind control a bunch of villains so that they help him in this quest. Will that really be enough to turn the tables though or will his quest end as soon as it has begun?

You get to see a lot of the familiar faces of Kirby such as Whispy Woods and the thunder cloud. It does remind you that Kirby has had a lot of enemies over the years but at the same time I do think the game could have had a little more fun with this and introduced some new characters. No reason you have to stick with the tried and true opponents right? One addition I liked was seeing Whispy’s father show up to take some names. The boss battle goes in much the same way as the first but it was a change of pace.

Like most Kirby games you can choose to run your way to the end of the level as you absorb enemies and use their abilities or you can cheese things by flying to the top of the level and staying there until you reach the end. It is encouraged to grab some abilities though as they come in handy for the boss fights. Additionally you can mind control up to 3 other characters at a time so that you have some backup going into boss battles. If you die that’s it but these guys can die as many times as needed and you will always be able to revive them. Their attacks do as much damage as yours so they can really be a good help in this game. Ironically the only boss fight I didn’t have them for was in the final level since they all got squashed by a block earlier. Those guys would have been pretty handy.

The graphics are definitely on point as you would expect. This is definitely a Switch game that feels like it’s modern gen. Nintendo doesn’t tend to spare any expense for how good their AAA titles look after all. The game goes all out here and especially in the final level we get some great cosmic backgrounds and even a bit of an energy battle. Meanwhile the soundtrack is definitely on point as well. You should definitely recognize some of the Kirby remixes and of course there are also new tunes to enjoy as well. When you factor all of this in together it makes for a very complete product.

As for the length, as mentioned this game is around 4 hours. You shouldn’t have a problem beating the levels because the game is pretty easy for the most part. I wouldn’t say you’ll see any difficult levels until the final boss which should actually give you a bit of a challenge. Not to much the final, final battle since we go into 3D so that’s more of a cakewalk but the final 2D battle goes all in. There is a good amount of replay value though like the various extra modes you can unlock. Effectively this allows you to play through the game in a lot of different ways to spice things up. There have also been a few free DLC patches since the game came out so this helps with the character roster.

I’m now one step closer to getting all the way through the Kirby series. I still have a few more I have to get but I’m definitely ready for Nintendo to start coming up with some more titles because I am absolutely ready for them. The end of the game has some interesting ideas with a quick villain trio forming their own group as well as their boss. The game feels like it’s just about ready to crossover with LoZ with the final boss’s name even being directly related to Hyrule. I’m always up for crossovers so that would be fun someday.

They were pretty fun villains and I can see why they may get pretty big among Kirby fans. The thunder minion from the main 3 was definitely the best one for me, even surpassing the fire opponent. The sheer speed was quite impressive. As for the main villain himself, his final form has some Undertale vibes there. He was a very interesting opponent and in a way it’s a look at what could happen to the world should Kirby ever turn to the dark side. There definitely wouldn’t be a whole lot that humanity could do at that point and that’s probably what scares them. Kirby is absolutely instrumental to the safety of the universe to the point that there are no other defenses. No Kirby and there is no hope left.

Overall, Kirby Star Allies is a pretty fun game. You’ll be through it in a flash but the platforming is on point and Nintendo definitely has this system down. If you were buying this for 60 you may think that the content is just way too small and that’s fair but now if you can get it for around 30 that’s not too bad. At the very least you’ll enjoy the boss battles and it reminds me of why the free to play game was so fun with all of those endless bosses running around. Experimenting with Kirby’s abilities is always cool and he has so many to choose from that it just works out pretty well. I do hope Kirby keeps up the tradition of every climax suddenly getting super high tier and cosmic, it helps the titles standout and who doesn’t want to save the universe at the end right? It just makes the experience that much more satisfying in the end. We’ll see how the next Kirby game stacks up to this one.

Overall 7/10

Enough Review

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Enough is a film where we finally have a heroine trying to frame the main villain as opposed to the other way around. Typically you always see the villains going for this trick so it’s a nice reversal of sorts. At the same time, the film’s tagline and whole promotional campaigns feel like they spoil the ending right off the bar. There isn’t any actual fighting until the very end of the film. If anything it would have been more interesting if we could have had more of a setup to the fight from the start like the lead saying to give her 2 years and she’ll come back with masterful skills. The villain would accept the deal since he’s overconfident and then you’ve got like a Rocky climax. It didn’t quite happen though but that would have been neat.

The movie starts off with Slim working the usual shift at a restaurant when some guy starts flirting with her. This guy’s clearly been desperate for a while as he keeps trying to talk to her and unfortunately Slim humors the guy. That’s when a guy called Mitch shows up and explains that the other guy made a bet that he could get with Slim. Slim’s shocked and the guy runs off. Slim then decides that Mitch must be a good guy so they quickly get married but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Mitch is an abusive cheater who just wants to do whatever he wants while keeping Slim and their daughter as a hostage. Slim manages to escape one day with some help from her friends but Mitch is in pursuit. Can Slim stay one step ahead of him or should she change course and bring the fight to him?

Right away though yo can see how the romance was a bit rushed. Slim knew nothing about Mitch except that he was someone who helped prevent her from getting into another relationship that could have been tricky. It seems like the old hero error. I forget the name of the complex but it’s where someone saves your life so you mistake your feelings of gratitude for love. This seems like that kind of scenario because Slim was ready to date this random guy but then quickly moves on to Mitch and they get married after a montage so presumably a decent amount of time has passed. The issue here is that you can’t be falling for more than one person this easily. Still, clearly it worked out for a while until Slim found out the truth.

She’s a pretty solid main character. Slim tries a whole lot of options before escaping such as visiting the cops and doing research. The tricky thing is that they aren’t really able to do much of anything for her until something actually happens. It’s a pretty big issue in general which is why these kinds of situations aren’t easy even in real life. Particularly in this case since Mitch is rich and has contacts inside of the police so there isn’t a lot that can be done. Pretty much everyone ultimately forces her into becoming a vigilante but Slim deserves credit for trying other options first.

As for her plan, it’s a pretty solid one. Slim figures she’ll break into his house without his knowing about it, and then destroy him. As the poster says, this will be in “Self-Defense.” Naturally if the jury knew about her breaking in and starting the fight then this wouldn’t hold up in court but she makes sure there is no evidence. Stacked in her favor is the fact that she planted a note saying she had accepted his invitation to come in and have a talk. To the jury this will make it look like this was a trap set up by Mitch. Additionally she’ll have testimony from quite a few people that Mitch was a little crazy and she also has the name and identity of at least one person he was fooling around with which will help establish motive.

It’s why framing in general always seems to dangerous because unless you have a Sherlock Holmes or such to crack the case then it’s hard to beat. For example, in this situation the cops have no reason to believe that self defense isn’t the case here because for one, they have no reason to suspect Slim would actually attack this guy and the fall makes the whole thing even more believable. Slim better make sure she actually removes all of the tech and such from the house though. That was the only area where I think she may have made a mistake. The film ends rather suddenly of course but she presumably still left everything inside like the phone jammer, her suitcase, lockpicking tech, etc. If the cops see this it may raise some eyebrows.

I guess we can assume she maybe moved it later or pinned it on Mitch. Either way I would say that the deck is stacked in her favor in this respect. Slim may have had some hesitation at the end and I didn’t like the fact that she pulled movie trope 101 of turning her back to Mitch mid fight to take a phone call which was almost fatal but otherwise she was a quality character. She did her best to protect her daughter and constantly keep on moving. Things were rather grim for Slim but she never gave up and now she can finally have some peace.

One of the side characters here is a guy named Joe. He’s a good friend who steps in to help Slim. I was glad that he didn’t bend to the pressure of Mitch’s hired help. I definitely recommend not opening the door when people come in claiming they have a warrant though. I mean it’s a tough decision because either way you’ll probably get beat up but you can’t trust anyone nowadays. Police uniforms can be forged and warrants can be faked so there’s no true way to know that someone’s on the level. You just have to hope that you aren’t in that situation I guess. Only thing I’d say against Joe is I think his trying to start up a romance with Slim is a little too quick. She’s in an emotionally tricky spot right now and is literally dealing with an evil husband so maybe waiting til after that is settled right?

At least he served as a good ally for her to have around. In general it was nice that Slim actually had some good friends for once. Usually in these films the heroine is all alone but this time you had the buddies from work. In particular they came in clutch early on when Mitch nearly foiled Slim’s escape attempt. Since he knows where they all live they were all taking pretty big risks of their own so now Slim can know that they’re all true friends.

One of the standout characters near the end was Slim’s father. At first he’s your average gangster father who doesn’t want anything to do with Slim but once Mitch threatens him then the guy jumps into action. I like the idea that he only helped just to stick it to the other villains. It’s one of those chaotic kind of moments that just so happens to help the heroine in this case. He may not be a hero but he definitely came in handy when it counted.

Meanwhile Mitch is definitely a bad character as you’d expect. He’s one of those villains who just operates completely on desire and doing what he wants. He is tough when he has a gun and such but otherwise that’s about it. I will say at times he looked a bit like Tom Cruise so it was a bit odd to see him as a crazy villain like this. Cruise has been a villain before but not really a crazy one. Naturally it makes the final fight pretty solid where Slim is taking him down. The film resists the urge to make this a big martial arts battle with a ton of high speed choreography out of a Mission Impossible film but I admit that would have been fun to see. Instead it’s more of a desperate fight with Slim getting to use her training. Her coach deserves a shoutout real quick because he prepared her really well for this moment.

Enough has a solid climax to be sure as things end off on a good note. The journey is also solid as Slim keeps on going from place to place and establishing new identities. Even her daughter was pretty reasonable the whole time as she tried to take things in stride. It’s definitely not easy on a kid to be running around like this. She may have gotten a bit careless with the basketball but you can blame Joe and Slim a bit on that one for letting her out of their sight even for a minute. One other character in the movie is Mitch’s ally who happens to be a cop but there’s not a whole lot to say about him. He lets Mitch threaten and push him around a lot so this isn’t exactly the toughest villain out there.

There’s one character in the film that’s a bit annoying though and that’s the attorney Slim visits. He basically blames her for not going to the cops earlier even though the film already established why that wouldn’t work and you’d think this guy would have known it. At least he let her know that the court date was a trap but she knew that as well. I thought he was going to be more helpful. I guess it was good as a twist of sorts that he wouldn’t help her out at all but you’d think he could have offered up some advice. At the end of the day Slim basically had to do everything herself including thinking up the plan to get a coach and learn how to fight. Definitely the best possible investment she could have made though.

As with some thrillers like this you may have to suspend a little disbelief with how much pull Mitch has. The guy has friends with the cops, mafia, personal security force, he can trick phone operators, etc. Slim literally travels to many different cities and he catches up to her almost immediately. The guy is clearly obsessed and insane so while I don’t think anything he does is completely impossible, at times it feels a little too fast. Right now you can use the internet to find just about anybody but if they move away it’ll still take some time to track their next position, especially with a new identity. That’s just the way it goes though.

Overall, Enough is actually a decent film. This genre can usually get a little dicey like Sleeping with the Enemy which didn’t get the highest of scores. This film allowed Slim to get out a little earlier this time though which was helpful. She didn’t have to put up with quite as much so by the same token Mitch didn’t get away with the same amount of things before her escape. Additionally Slim actually getting to physically beat him up was a nice way to close things out. It’s definitely a vigilante move but the film did show that she tried to use the official channels first so it’s hard to fault or blame her in any way for these steps. Realistically if she didn’t choose to take the attack to Mitch and finish him off then she would likely be dead. I can safely recommend this if you want to check out a pretty intense thriller. Although if I were the film creators I would have marketed this as a normal slice of life romance film because then the twists would be that much more effective. I still don’t understand why the film’s premise spoils almost the entire first 70% of the film but at least it makes it easy to review the film since I can talk about more than usual.

Overall 6/10

The Fastest Gun Alive Review

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It’s fairly rare to have a western without much travelling or gunfights but The Fastest Gun Alive manages to pull this off pretty well. It’s more of a down to Earth story about a guy trying to walk away from the business. Unfortunately the main character doesn’t end up being a likable character though as he makes the wrong decisions consistently throughout the movie. The movie survives despite him though and it’s a pretty solid experience. You’ll be kept interested throughout.

The movie starts off with the main villain Vinnie searching for a man named Fallon. Fallon is said to be the fastest gun around. Well, Vinnie takes him down in a gun fight and is now satisfied as the best. Meanwhile, news travels around to a small town where everyone is fascinated by the idea of someone being this fast. This annoys George because he is actually a very good gunman, but he doesn’t let anyone know it. He prefers to live as a very meek shop owner who just minds his business. The issue is that this all starts to get to him more and more. Will he remain strong or is it time to show everyone what he’s got?

Needless to say, George definitely doesn’t stay strong and quickly tries to prove himself to everyone. Part of what makes the character annoying is that he lets everyone get to him rather easily. He doesn’t help matters either by deciding not to dance or constantly going out on walks instead of actually minding the store. He basically leaves all of the work to his wife Dora. We find out later on that George also lied to her about getting rid of his gun when he kept it the whole time. He just made every kind of mistake possible and either got drunk easy after his half a cup or his desperation made him drunk. Either way he definitely did not look good during the whole saloon scene where he is making fun of everyone.

I can maybe get past that except then at the end he is too afraid to go out and fight Vinnie when the villain hears about this. Not only is this directly George’s fault for showing off but he is willing to let the entire town burn if it means that he doesn’t have to fight. It makes sense that some people don’t want t fight in a gun battle of course and George would usually have the right to refuse a challenge but not in this circumstance. It’s only when another member of the town tries to go in his place that George finally works up the courage to act. A lead who wants to be recognized but then immediately regrets it is just too wishy washy to be a quality lead. He should have just been content with the life he had with Dora. She did her best to help out and he wasn’t grateful.

Meanwhile Dora is a solid character. She does her best to keep George on the straight and narrow but at the end of the day she has her limits too and made sure to hold her ground. Moving again wasn’t going to be an option for her. She definitely didn’t support the gun business in the slightest. As for the rest of the town, they all seemed pretty friendly except for one guy who was always getting on George with some passive aggressive comments. It’s clear that the guy had some strong views about guns but at the very least that’s as far as he went. With the rest of the town seeming pretty supportive to me I still say George had a great gig here that he was willing to blow for a few minutes of fame. Even the older man who kept recounting the story about the gunfight was having a good time. It was a pretty thrilling experience for him so why not enjoy it a lot right?

We get one long dance scene in the film where one teen gets to show off his moves. It feels like the potential start to a romance subplot that never actually happens. I feel like there was more that was cut out from the film or something. Still, it’s a pretty solid scene because the moves are quite impressive. He’s able to use all of the objects in the room to his advantage with some tight footwork and clearly he has spent a lot of time honing his skills at the barn. So while the entire scene is really filler to be honest, it’s a pretty fun scene to watch. I’d say it even beats a lot of the more classic dancing scenes you would typically see because this felt more like an athletic exhibition.

Meanwhile Vinnie was a solid main villain. He has an honor code which I like and he was also smart enough to make sure that none of the other two villains would stab him in the back. The guy’s gun skills were also the real deal so he makes for a very complete villain. The icing on the top was the fact that he has a good honor code where he doesn’t attack kids or dogs. You really couldn’t ask for much more out of a quality villain like this. There is a lot of build up to his big fight with George and it makes for an epic way to end off the movie. The ending to the film is quite solid and a great way to wrap things up.

The writing in the movie is on point as you would probably expect. The dialogue is pretty strong and there are a lot of quality discussions the whole time like deciding how to handle the situation with Vinnie getting ready to burn the town. I may not have liked George but he was still written well and never got crazy or anything like that. All of the characters are pretty reasonable and even minor characters like Vinnie’s right hand man get some personality in their brief appearances.

Overall, The Fastest Gun Alive is a solid western film. I like the idea of several characters all fighting it out to prove that they are the fastest. It’s a title they clearly all want to own since it’s a matter of pride. Even George was more into it than he would let on. At the same time as a blind character in the movie said, there is always someone faster. Your opponent could have a jammed gun like someone else mentioned or maybe just a bad day. In a gun draw where both characters quickly try to fire off their shot, there are a lot of ways that things may not plan out as you figured. Every bit of speed comes in handy in those ties though. I would definitely recommend checking this film out if you like the Wild West. It’s an all around solid title.

Overall 7/10

Battlestar Galactica Review

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Battlestar Galactica is one of those games that should have been good by all accounts. It’s a Sci-Fi game like Star Fox with a direct plot involving aliens and a main character who’s already showing some sass in the first level. How could it fumble the ball this hard? Well, unfortunately the controls are pretty bad and the game design is even worse. You have to be prepared for an incredibly long level and if you die at any point during it there are no checkpoints. That’s exactly the kind of thing that you don’t want to do.

The game starts off with a bunch of alien robots showing up. They want to destroy the Galactica. Your mission is to stop them and prevent the Galactica from being destroyed. Simple enough right? Unfortunately not really and this was the last level I would see. I gave it a whirl for around 3-4 hours but it was just not enough to get through. You have to see the same cutscenes and dialogue each time too which can get old. The main character constantly saying that he’s not a cadet but the other characters mock him anyway gets old pretty quick. It’s a shame because the main guy had some potential here.

The core gameplay is that you’re in a 3D environment where you have to fly in and start taking names. You have your main weapon, your sub weapon, boosters, and a few other tricks up your sleeve. You can reallocate your stats to increase attack or speed. Additionally you have charge missiles and other weapons by holding down each button. I think this may have been part of the problem though. The game just got a little too ambitious with all of this. At the end of the day the main issue here is there are too many controls. You have so many different attacks and movement options that none of them are actually reliable.

Then you have the fact that the levels are massive so it feels like you are never making any progress. I’m telling you, I’ve gone through that exact same intro so many times in this game that it’s incredibly old at this point. It’s just the same dialogue options over and over and over again. You really need a checkpoint system in this game or in any game with long levels for that matter. The worst feeling is dumping a few hours into something without anything to show for it. While minor, I’d say at least adding a play time ticker somewhere in the game would do it wonders. Then I could at least put that down somewhere as a quick achievement. Without it, the game feels like an empty experience.

The graphics are really good at least. The game looks surprisingly solid for the PS2 era and you could make a case for this looking like a PS3 game. It’s got full voice acting and the soundtrack is on point as well. On a technical level this game can hold its own and that’s more than I can say for other games at this level. That’s part of why the whole situation is tragic since at least some of the departments working on this game seemed to try hard. Just not hard enough to really make this a good game.

So, how would I fix this? Well, aside from adding checkpoints I would remove some of the control options. We shouldn’t have 3 different ways to boost. Make R1 the boost option and otherwise you are accelerating by default. L1 will be to slow down. Square button will fire the homing rockets. No need to have it twice. I would make the lock-on system a whole lot more pronounced so you don’t have to be wondering where the enemies are. Remove the team strategy options or just make it something you control from the pause menu. Same for redistributing your skills in the level, that should be through the pause menu. Now with this we’re cooking with gas.

Next up, instead of making each level 20-30 minutes and only having 7 levels in the game, make it 21 shorter levels. Each level is the objective so the length is more akin to what an average Star Wars or Star Fox level is like. Bite sized levels like that are perfect for objective based games like this one. For that matter they make a lot more sense as well. With these changes I think you can instantly bump this game all the way up to a 7. It would feel like a completely different game in a good way.

Of course at the end of the day that’s all just wish fulfillment. The game exists and nothing’s really going to change that. Perhaps if the developers see this they can use it for context on their next game though. For some reason sci-fi games just tend to have a lot of issues I’ve noticed. Star Trek hasn’t exactly hit it out of the park and then you had that game about visiting planets a while back. Star Wars has had its hits but it’s also definitely had some titles that didn’t hit people the way you would have hoped they did. I don’t get what’s so hard to make about a space shooter. Just look at Star Fox Assault for a good idea of how to handle it. That game is quite old by now and yet to this day it is easily the best sci-fi shooter I’ve ever seen. It could handle both aerial combat as well as on the ground. It’s a true legend.

Overall, Battlestar Galactica is not a franchise that I’ve ever started and this game definitely wouldn’t help me to turn around on that. It’s just not a very well developed game with the level designs being too long and the controls are overly complex. The series in general always seemed like an alternate version of Star Trek so there’s a lot of potential there. We just need a modern game version to really adapt the series and give it more respect with the fundamentals. I think if you handle this right then you may definitely have something here. Until then though, stay far away from this game and buy Star Fox Assault instead. You’ll be glad you did.

Overall 3/10

Sounder Review

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Sounder is a film that came out quite a while ago at this point. Whenever a film’s title is the name of a dog in the film you wanna be a little careful because those films can get a little dicey. I’m thinking of the Marley and Me, Lassie, Eskimo Dogs, Old Yeller, kind of titles. They usually tend to fumble the ball and destroy whatever potential they had. Unfortunately this one also massively fumbles the ball at one point which holds the film back. Things were going pretty well but then you enter the point of no return. The film did its best to salvage the situation at the end so it didn’t lose as many points as it could have but it was a shame.

The movie starts off by introducing us to David and his father Nathan. They hunt with their dog Sounder to try and get some food so their family can stay alive. Unfortunately it has been rather difficult as of late and so everyone is starving. Nathan grows desperate enough to steal a steak from one of his neighbors. The Sheriff ultimately finds out it was him so Nathan is sentenced to a far away prison for hard labor. His wife Rebecca now has to really take care of the family by herself with David helping as much as he can. They need to know where Nathan is though so David and Sounder go on an adventure to find him. Can they locate and bring Nathan back?

Lets get the obvious elephant in the room out of the way first. Sounder is the reason why the movie treads on thin ice. He’s a pretty happy dog and a very loyal companion who always does what he can to help. When Nathan is being taken away Sounder steps in and unfortunately gets shot in the process. You do not shoot dogs in a film, that’s just a pretty bad idea. It never has any upside and any kind of plot development you’re trying to tell could have been handled a different way. Sounder lives which is the only reason why this film didn’t sink lower.

The idea seems to be that this traumatized Sounder so now he refuses to bark again until Nathan returns. You could have easily still done that idea with Sounder not barking anymore because he misses Nathan without adding the whole bullet angle. I suppose this is a quick way to build up tension and establish the sheriff as one of the bad guys but it’s not worth the cost. Sounder was certainly a standout character all the way through though.

Meanwhile Nathan’s a solid main character. Naturally stealing the steak was a mistake and he ended up paying for it pretty quickly but the film does a good job of establishing why he made the decision. It’s not like he just decided to be a thief out of nowhere. He’s a fun character and always sees the glass as half full. He has a lot of good banter with the other characters. Rebecca is also a really solid character. She works quite hard to make sure that the family has enough food to survive. Managing the house and working on all the outdoor tasks is certainly a lot of work but she accomplishes it all without any issue.

The kids don’t really get much of a role outside of David. He’s good as the lead kid. I’m not big on having kid main characters for the most part though as they just can’t be as interesting as an older main character. There’s nothing bad about David but there’s only so much he can do to have interesting scenes because he isn’t old enough for banter or to really talk up to the other characters. He’s just a little too young but he does his best to hang in there and try everything he can to find Nathan.

Sounder’s writing is pretty solid. The characters are all established well and the pacing is on point so the movie never drags on either. It’s a very direct adventure with a beginning, middle, and end. The supporting characters hold their own such as the neighbor who supports David in finding some information as well as the school teacher who helps him out and also gives him a lot of hope for the future with education. She doesn’t appear until fairly deep into the film but has a good role. It’s always important to at least have one ally when you’re travelling and this way David finally had somewhere he could rest since pretty much everyone else in that area was acting kind of dangerous. People were very quick to attack him when he was talking around. There isn’t really any filler or stalling, the film just goes straight through its plot.

It’s why it’s still a shame about the shot connecting with Sounder. The film already had established some good tension and a feeling of danger so why shoot the dog? It’s not like it makes their situation significantly worse since they weren’t catching many animals to eat anyway. Knocking Sounder out of play just felt really forced especially since it sidelines him for a good chunk of the film despite the name.

Overall, Sounder is a movie that I can’t really recommend. It comes close but sometimes even one big mistake can hold a film back if it’s big enough. The drama and writing are on point otherwise so if you can get past this then maybe give it a shot. If you’re big into dogs and want something where the dog manages to get through without issue then you may want to check out Underdog instead or something like that. Since this film has other versions I’m hoping Sounder manages to get through without injury next time. He is pretty fit and a solid lead so I would even be cool with the sheriff trying to shoot at him but Sounder just jumping and rolling out of the way of each bullet. That would be pretty satisfying to watch and would still establish the Sheriff as a pretty fierce villain.

Overall 4/10

The Late Show Review

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Noir films tend to be pretty fun with their chaotic plans. The lead is always thinking things through quite a bit to the point where they might even overanalyze things at times. Well, this film is no different and plays things out pretty well the whole time. It’s a pretty good film and you should have a fun time here. It may not go down as the ultimate film of the genre that you will remember for all of time but it does hit all of the right beets. The Late Show represents the genre really well so you can certainly recommend this to any fan of the Noir genre.

Ira used to be a pretty good detective in his day but he’s basically out of the business now. He’s quite old and just doesn’t get involved in those situations anymore. Well, one day his partner Harry shows up and dies. Ira realizes that the guy has been shot by someone and decides to avenge him. His only lead is that Harry had been helping out a lady named Margo with…her missing cat? This doesn’t exactly sound like a life or death matter but clearly there is more to this case than meets the eye. Getting information out of Margo will be difficult though. She is a very active person who likes to talk a whole lot so it can be tough to ever get to the bottom of things with her. Still, Ira knows that if he sticks close to her he will get his chance. You have conspiracies, lies, missing people, a possible cheating scandal, and more here. Ira will have to piece all of these seemingly unrelated plots together.

Part of the fun for Noir films is the twists and turns that come along the way so it’s harder to go more in depth with the story. A big emphasis is on Ira being old which the villains take advantage of but Ira dishes it out as well as he takes it. Several of the villains try to strong arm him and that always backfires. A good example of this is Lamar who beats up on Ira after getting in a surprise attack but he gets to feel the same punishment later on. Ira certainly holds a grudge and won’t forget things very easily.

He’s a fun lead and works well in this role. The character of the aging detective who knows all of the tricks works pretty well here. He’s not going to fall for any easy traps and the villains have to do everything they can to make sure they aren’t just completely squashed by this guy. Ira has some health issues in the film which do present an issue but he handles those pretty well too. So all in all I was definitely quite satisfied with this guy. Then you have Margo who is a solid sidekick. She really wants to be helpful so you can appreciate her drive even if she sometimes gets them into a bigger mess like with calling Ira’s other partner. To her defense I guess she may not have known better but considering how crazy things were getting she probably should have stayed quiet. Can’t trust anyone in this kind of situation I would say.

Margo handles the car driving really well as she escaped the tails though. The writing in the film is really solid with the banter between Margo and Ira being a nice highlight. Technically she is doing most of the bantering since he doesn’t talk a lot. He prefers to just think things through in his head while Ira likes to bring everything out into the open and just discuss everything until it makes sense. They have very different styles for sure.

On the whole the movie is just pretty fun so the whole thing goes by pretty quickly. It’s a solid plot and by the end you get to see which of the characters are able to stick the landing and which ones crack under pressure. In particular there is one character who looks terrible at the end. After getting beaten by the thugs in a theater this guy still decides to help them out for the money. I think just about anyone would realize that these guys probably wouldn’t give him the money anyway. Most likely he would just be shot in the back for his troubles. There’s no way things would end well for him either way so it makes his character choice even worse. All he is doing is digging his own grave but at least it gives Ira a chance to dish out some more solid burns.

The ending is pretty sudden with several shots being fired and the body count certainly rises. Nobody is really safe in a film like this, especially when you have villains running around. Everyone knows about two of the thugs for example but nobody does anything about them. It’s one of those interesting elements where you have characters uttering a lot of veiled threats against each other with the mutual understanding that no fights will break out as long as each person leaves the other alone.

Overall, The Late Show is a pretty good movie. The plot is engaging from start to finish and there is never a dull moment. You have to really stay on top of things here or you may lose track of a few of the twists. It works well as a slow burner film where we slowly find things out along with Ira until we have the full story. The movie balances the serious nature of the movie along with some quality humor the whole time. It’s done carefully so both tones are in tact. You never doubt for a second the high stakes of the film after all as we do get some intense scenes like someone literally being found inside of a fridge. If anything the humor makes these moments feel even more intense since they can really come out of nowhere. The ending even leaves room for potential sequels should they decide to go in that direction. Of course Ira is already quite old so the films would have to be careful not too stretch it too far or you’ll have a hard time believing that he can hold his own. At least as of this film he is clearly still tough enough to physically manhandle some of the villains though.

Overall 7/10

Megaman X3 Review

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Megaman X has had a pretty good run with the various manga titles. The author really knows how to expand on the general plot and put in ew details where it would help enhance the story. I wouldn’t quite put this above the second X adaption but it’s a good way to kick off the first three stories. In a way this one has the most climactic end of the 3 so far as you feel the whole series could have ended here. There are no loose ends and X has finally mastered his abilities to their fullest.

The series kicks off with Megaman admitting that he is retiring yet again. He doesn’t want to fight anymore and has even deactivated his Mega buster. He is confident that the world has no need of violence. Unfortunately he is betrayed by his own men once more and gets kidnapped by the mad scientist Doppler. Zero shows up to save him but now there are 8 robot masters running around causing havok. Megaman X is forced to suit up once more to stop these guys. Can he really come up with a way to stop them or is it gonna be game over for him this time?

You do have to feel bad for X because every time he has conquered a challenge, a brand new one takes its place. X seems doomed to never truly have a moment’s peace. Every time he even attempts something so bold he is quickly put back in the arena. I do think it may be a bit naive of him to fully expect that no more battles will be needed though. Getting kidnapped was pretty tough. The series does delve into his psyche a bit here. Being betrayed so many times and having to fight has naturally taken its toll on him. This is the series where X finally cracks to an extent. We get a sub plot where X is metaphorically turning into a demon which is a big plot point towards the end of the series. It’s a pretty intense plot to be sure.

It does make for some epic battles as well although I do have to say it hurts X’s character tremendously. Not so much that he is using the power since he is using it to help everybody but he also starts snapping at the main heroine and anyone who tries to help him. He completely goes off the deep end. It’s clear that X has become desperate but I think this was a bit too much. You’d think he would have been able to control himself a bit better. The final chapter has him back to normal though so I think he’ll be okay going forward but it was quite the change in personalities.

The ending is definitely interesting though. Without going into specifics, X gets a huge power up that makes him very hard to stop. He’s essentially life itself. I’ve never seen a portrayal quite like this for X before so that was definitely a twist. It feels a bit like plot convenience rather than something that should have happened but I suppose it’s unique at least. Just felt like it was like robbing the victory at the end since it wasn’t earned quite as hard as it could have been otherwise.

Zero gets a pretty big role here compared to the other titles since for once he isn’t presumed dead this time around. He has the perfect entrance here since he saves X and uses up so much power that everyone is in awe of him. How can you possibly top that right? I was surprised to see even Zero get overpowered near the end when he had to fight his opponent but it just goes to show how powerful some of the new villains are. Zero even got some character development from the previous titles. as he was more willing to spare his opponents.

Meanwhile the artwork here is definitely on point. The action scenes are intense and you feel the weight of each blow. It can get a little busy at times during the more high-end fights like with Vile and Sigma but you can still get what is happening. The heroes are just fighting at such a high level that there is naturally a lot more power involved at this point. The scale is handled well for sure and then you’ve got the subtle effects like X’s eyes not being shown when he’s in his demon mode to show just how much he has changed from his peaceful self. Even if it hurts his character a bit by the end.

While most of the normal bosses were a bit forgettable this time around, we did get two fun opponents in Bit and Byte. These guys are a cut above the rest of the mavericks and were actually overwhelming X and Zero with ease when they battled. Not just any opponent can do that. The opening fight was definitely one of the standout moments of the manga series because it’s just so rare to see Zero and X on the defensive like this. Particularly Zero who to this point was pretty much unbeatable in 1 on 1 battles. Nobody was really giving him such a difficult time prior to this battle. It makes sense that eventually there would be mavericks who could surpass him in ability though. While these guys may not have been super brave in the end, they definitely left a lasting impression. It was X’s last battle before going into the next stage too so it’s hard to forget that.

For the other robot masters, most of them just come across as rather insane this time around. They’re following the orders of their master but partially this is because they are being controlled like Doppler. It’s not about choosing the side because they wanted to like in the first two games. Only one of them is really able to stay strong. He was an aerial fighter who is sort of like Storm Eagle so he always wanted to surpass Zero in strength. I don’t think that’s going to happen but it’s always important to have lofty goals after all and why not at least aim high right?


Overall, Megaman X3 is definitely a great manga. The ending in particular is really solid. It’s the longest of the X adventures to this point so there was time for a lot of extra scenes and development to the individual battles. Despite this I would say the first two games had the more memorable villain cast. Maybe that’s because I’ve been through the original adventure in so many ways already though. Either way this one really upped the stakes with the grand finale and getting all of the robots to unite for once. I also enjoyed the beginning with X getting kidnapped since that was just such a different way of starting things off compared to usual. Typically you definitely would not expect things to start like that. X3 remains rather grim and somber a lot of the time with things always turning out tragically for the heroes. The ending is no exception, in some ways its the saddest ending yet so we’ll see how X deals with this in his next adventure. Will he retire yet again or this time will he stay in the front lines?

Overall 8/10