Ganondorf vs Demise


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Suggested by Sonic Ganondorf is back once again, but this time he is up against one of the coolest LOZ villains to appear recently. If we’re going by their standard power set then this would be a simple win for Demise given just how fearsome he was in Skyward Sword. Again, Ganondorf was buffed in Hyrule Warriors though and he can use darkness to amp up his physical attacks as well. This could conceivably equal the playing field even without the HW appearance, but with it victory is guaranteed. Ganondorf wins.

Ganondorf vs Ghirahim


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Suggested by Sonic Ghirahim is a skilled swordsman who can also teleport. While Ganondorf’s magical abilities are vast, he has not been shown to teleport with the same precision and speed as Ghirahim. Still, he makes up for that in raw power as he exhibits in Hyrule Warriors. It would be a reasonably close battle, but no Legend of Zelda villain has proven to be quite as formidable as the original overlord of Darkness. Ganondorf wins.

Wonder Woman vs Fingolfin


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Suggested by iKnowledge Fingolfin is a powerful Elvin warrior whose strength and durability are uncanny. He was able to do battle with Morgoth for a long time and put up an admirable fight. It would take a little while for Wonder Woman to take him down, but she has time. Moreover, her speed is on a completely different level compared to Fingolfin so the odds of a successful counter attack are slim to none. Wonder Woman wins.

*Image of Fingolfin created by kimberly80.

Severus Snape vs Desertman



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Suggested by Megapot Network Snape is certainly a popular Harry Potter character and a good fighter as well. He’s definitely not someone that you want to underestimate. Still, I don’t think that he will be quite ready to handle someone like Desertman. Desertman is hard to handle thanks to the fact that he can turn into sand. Good luck hitting him with a spell and his Sand Lions are very quick. Snape can’t block them all and will eventually be defeated. Desertman wins.

Voldemort vs Searchman




Suggested by Megapot Network It’s time for another Megaman BN vs Harry Potter verse battle. Voldemort has a lot of spells, but he has earned the nickname Moldy Voldy for a reason. He simply isn’t very fast so Searchman can easily snipe him from afar. Voldemort can’t move quick enough to dodge and even launching an attack in time will be difficult. He’s just really outmatched in this fight and won’t be able to do much. Searchman wins.

Solo: A Star Wars Story Review


It’s time to look at Solo, A Star Wars Story. It’s certainly been getting quite a lot of mixed reception and a lower box office report than its creators had been hoping for, but it’s still a fairly good movie. It’s nothing great or even all that original but it executes the fairly basic plot well so that’s good enough for me. I was definitely hoping to see more Lightsabers and Force usage though.

The film starts off with Han and Qi’ra hanging out on a rather tough planet. The inhabitants all have to work for a large worm which is naturally no fun. Han decides to escape but Qi’ra hesitates too much and is left behind. Han swears to come back for her someday after he gets a ship so he can fly back to the planet. A few years pass and now he is close. He just has to help a few bandits steal some cargo to pay for the ride. Does he have what it takes to accomplish this?

Now, I know there were quite a few people who weren’t hyped for this film because Han’s voice seemed rather whiny and not quite like a young Harrison Ford would act. Well, I think he does a good job. The voice may be a little hard to take seriously for a while but as long as you don’t look at him as Ford and just focus on the character then it works well enough. Han gets a good role in this film and does certainly get his credit when it comes to his piloting skills. Han also doesn’t shy away from a fight or a game of cards and is always thinking up a plan. He is a well rounded character but one whose plans don’t work out as much as he would like. Often times I would argue that it isn’t really his fault when they fail though. I’d take him over Luke Skywalker any day and considering that he is an ordinary person with no Force abilities, Han deals a lot of damage in all of his fights. Even in his skirmish with Chewy he put up an impressive fight.

Then we have Beckett who is the leader of the rebels in this film. They aren’t to be confused with the official Rebels group. They are just people trying to make a difference for themselves as they grab lots of money. Beckett embodies this creed quite well as he doesn’t trust anyone and basically confirms that nobody should trust him either. All he cares about is the money and that part is rather impressive at least. He is very straightforward about what he is doing. Beckett also nearly finishes off Han when they first meet by calling his bluff.

Qi’ra is definitely an interesting character. You will probably have a good guess as to where her character arc will go as soon as she reappears as the lieutenant to the main villain. Good that she escaped in one piece of course, she must be pretty skilled at surviving. She’s a solid character who knows how to fight and that’s always a good ally to have. How you feel about her will certainly depend on what you think of her final choices. Again, they were expected so it doesn’t really hit you as hard as it otherwise would have, but it does hurt Qi’ra’s chances of being one of the best characters. A certain scene where she decides to confront someone with a sucker hit at the end did feel a little forced. The only reason this would make sense is if she really wanted to land the finishing blow herself for personal reasons as otherwise the guy was already going to lose. Her decisions seem to leave her in a pretty bad spot for the sequel as well so hopefully she has a plan for that.

Chewy gets a large role of course and he’s all right as per usual. He gets in a lot of roars and does his best to help out. He is around a lot but there isn’t really much to say about him besides the fact that he is the Chewy we all grew up with. I’m still waiting for his fight with Kylo Ren by the way. Of course we can’t forget about Lando. He has always been a big part of the Han mythos ever since he appeared in the original films and we learned that they had a history. Considering how their partnership plays out here I’m not too surprised that he wanted to get even with Han. It just turned out to be in a very serious way. Meanwhile the main villain is okay but strikes you as one of those guys who is basically all talk. Once it actually comes time to fight he goes down fairly quick. I would have liked for him to have looked a little more impressive during the big fight for sure. His weapon was pretty neat though so that was good.

The visual effects for the film are pretty good as you would expect. As this is an older film (in the timeline) there aren’t a lot of energy weapons being used so the film can’t show off its visuals as much as it could have. Still, what we did see was nice and smooth so I’d say that it was all on point. There isn’t much of a soundtrack though. It would have been nice if they could have used the tune from the first trailer. I thought that one was really solid.

I’d say that the writing was also pretty good. The comedy didn’t usually feel forced and the witty banter lived up to what it should be for a Han film. I won’t say that it was amazing but it was maybe a little better than expected and that’s always a good thing. It helps that the film had so many confident characters to play off of each other. Pretty much all of the characters talk a good game until put in their place.

Overall, Han is a solid film. It has a fun cast of characters and a lot of action to keep the pacing pretty tight. The plot evolves as the film goes on so it doesn’t stay stagnant. Really the only thing to say against it is that the movie can be very by the numbers. At times you can definitely imagine seeing scenes very similar to what you are watching and the plot twists are pretty telegraphed so there aren’t any real surprises. Well, as long as the film executed the plots well then it’s fine if we’ve seen them before and I think the film does a good job with that. I’d recommend checking it out at some point.

AaOverall 7/10

The Mysterians Review


It’s time to look at a really old school Sci-Fi film. This one came out back in the Godzilla days during the late 50s. It’s even made by some of the same people from that title so you could be sure to expect quality confirmed. It plays out just like you would expect it to and is certainly an entertaining movie. You’re sure to enjoy it as the film is quite fast paced with a lot of fun dialogue.

The plot of the movie starts off by showing us some people not getting along too well at a parade/event of sorts. We don’t have time for this drama though as a large alien kaiju (Moguera) shows up to decimate the planet. The government manages to destroy this Kaiju as expected, but then aliens show up and say that this is the first of many. Unless we surrender land and people to them they will destroy us all. Naturally Earth won’t go down without a fight so we gather our tanks and planes as we prep a counter attack. It’s hype time!

I fortunately saw the dub version. The film is definitely played off as a comedy here as the actors have a lot of fun voicing the characters. You can tell that these guys had a lot of passion in the project as they would say things very directly. It was like a google translate version of the script. Everyone sounds a little off and naturally none of the voices seem to match, but that’s part of the film’s charm. It should have you cackling and chuckling throughout the entire movie. Even aside from the dub the movie plays out like a comedy at times with the monster getting destroyed simply by falling while on a bridge and then by trying to rise from the ground only for the rocket to squash him. It’s easy to poke fun at the robot’s design as well, but he tries very hard. I did like the robot and actually felt bad for him since the humans were simply too persistent. Moguera didn’t ask for this!

One issue with the film though is that they made the aliens a little too strong. As a result, it’s hard to believe it when thy actually lose to the humans at the end. They were shown to be able to spy on the humans and listen in to their conversations at will. How did they not notice when the humans built two death ray weapons (In the span of a day) and when they were transporting it over. Even once it arrived it should have been easy to shoot it down but they didn’t until it was too late. Apparently they can create flash floods at the push of a button so why didn’t they do so right away? At times you will just be wondering what they were thinking. I guess we have to assume that the aliens weren’t very smart and honestly that is probably a good bet, but even so they should have won this round.

The humans aren’t very interesting in comparison. The two heroines definitely look really bad here as they allow the villains to kidnap them without even yelling in protest. They don’t struggle and simply faint at the sight of the villains. It’s not as if the bad guys were grotesque aliens either. They looked like normal aliens in Power Ranger esque costumes. Nothing scary about that and the heroines could have easily escaped. Allowing themselves to be held hostage like that wasn’t very smart and it also made them a liability to the army. Well….lets be honest, the army barely cared and didn’t stop their assault, but that’s not the point. The heroines couldn’t really redeem themselves from that.

The main guy wasn’t bad though. At least he was smart enough to rush into the enemy base to blast them. The base shouldn’t have been so easy to breech but maybe the bad guys were so intent on building high tech weapons that they skipped on the basics like installing cameras and the like. If so that was a big mistake. I definitely didn’t like the traitor though. He acts as if he was tricked by the end, but I definitely don’t buy that. He simply wanted to make sure that he was on the winning side in the end and that’s not a great reason to switch sides. You can’t just betray the Human race and then decide to come back. It’s simply way too late by that point and there wasn’t much that the character could do to come back from that. It was simply all over for him by then.

I certainly enjoyed the government here though. Sure, they may not have had much of a plan at first as they just kept grabbing more tanks to fire at the enemy, but at least they didn’t even entertain the thought of co-operating with the aliens. The Aliens shot first so of course we have to respond in kind. America also looked really good here as they showed up and started taking names. We even came up with the plans for the death ray or at the very least the guy who brought the plans in certainly sounded American. Again, I have to give the dub credit for the voices here. They were hilarious throughout and show what a difference a good dub can do. It just makes the film flow that much better.

Overall, There really aren’t any weaknesses to point out in the film. The Mysterians manages to be solid all the way through. It’s a fun film with good pacing that really flies by. Moguera looks good while he is around. The design may not be scary or anything like that, but I’m always up for a giant robot to appear as it just makes the film more exciting. The ending leaves a little room for a sequel, but at this point we know that the aliens are doomed and they likely wouldn’t be able to even put up as good of a fight in a 2nd bout. They showed us their limits while we can reverse engineer their tech and get even better. Humanity wins once again. If you haven’t seen this film yet then I highly recommend doing so. You don’t want to miss out on the hype.

Overall 7/10

Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death Review


Sherlock Holmes has returned for another film! This is certainly one of the better ones in the series and shows that the franchise has still got a lot of energy in it. The stakes are more personal than ever as Holmes is directly responsible for the villains getting the lead for once. He will have to ask for the assistance of his longtime comrade Watson once more. Time is of the essence, but if anyone can save the world, it’s Holmes!

The film starts off with a villain attempting to get a legendary pearl through the cops by giving it to an innocent old man. Fortunately, that old man was Holmes in yet another one of his disguises. He takes the pearl to the cop, but isn’t too pleased with how they have secured it. He demonstrates how easy the alarm system is to deactivate, but in the meantime the villain makes sure to nab the unprotected pearl. Holmes is to blame for the security features no working as intended, but this is no time to feel sorry for himself. Holmes has to quickly figure out where the pearl is now before it is too late!

Holmes gives the main villain (Conover) a lot of hype throughout, but I certainly wouldn’t say that he is on the same level as Moriarty or the female villain who bested him a few titles ago. Still, he does seem to be pretty intelligent so the guy isn’t your average crook either. Underestimate him at your own peril. Conover doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to get his hands dirty so usually he relies on underlings to do it for him. He does have some swet moves though like when he qwuickly disarmed Holmes at the end. He adapts very quickly and probably just needs to work on his reaction times a little bit. His right hand man the Creeper gets a much bigger role, but isn’t quite as interesting> The Creeper likes the main heroine, but that’s his only real character. It seems like the guy can’t really speak anymore so the super strength came at a very heavy price.

Holmes himself is very solid as always. He probably should have found a way to secure the pearl before doing his experiment, but at that point it would have spoiled his chance to make the point that he was trying to present under the guise of spilling a bunch of fruit. He also figured that the guards would at least be watching the jar a little right? Holmes makes sure to make a comeback from there though and the only thing left for him to fear was his own bad habit of gloating at the end. It seems like this has happened several times throughout the film series where Holmes will get the villain at gun point, but starts to gloat for so long that the villain just yanks the gun away. Holmes really needs to watch that as it could be the end of him.

Watson is also a loyal sidekick as always. He does come close to ending Holmes’ life by mistake though when he delivers a book from the main villain. Holmes very nearly fell for it, but luckily Watson was able to drop enough clues to help him skate by. He may not be the smartest chap, but Watson always tries to protect Holmes from the outside elements like the newspapers and all. He’s just a nice guy so it’s a shame that things don’t tend to swing his way.

Meanwhile Lestrade probably has his worst appearance in a while. Of course, I understand that he doesn’t really care much for Sherlock Holmes at times since he has nothing but contempt for theories. Still, Holmes has a great reputation and he has solved many cases before. Shouldn’t the cop at least believe him a little? Lestrade is so determined to be right that even when multiple people are murdered with the same method he believes that it is a coincidence. I don’t know how he can say that with a straight face. Honestly Holmes has to put up with a lot in this town. The cops even hold things from him to save face which ultimately just makes his job a lot more difficult.

It’s definitely one of his toughest cases as well. The body count feels a lot higher than usual as it takes Holmes a very long time to track down the killer at large. By the time he does only one of the people on the hit list is still alive. Better late than never I suppose right? The pacing for the film is really good and you will definitely feel the intensity all the way through. This definitely isn’t the kind of case that is all fun and games. Lives hang in the balance.

Overall, The Pearl of Death is a really great film. Every character gets something important to do and Holmes gets a lot of credit. He looks like the tactical genius that he should be portrayed as but everyone else does their best to pitch in. While Holmes is very competent, he also is shown to not be infallible which is a big part of what this movie is focused around. Some detectives do seem to be perfect like Detective Conan, but for the most part that is too much to expect out of anyone. If you are looking for a solid murder mystery then look no further. This is the film to look out for and it’s easy to jump into with no prior Holmes knowledge. The opening scene is also handled really well so the movie starts off on a high note. At most, the ending might just have the shortest Holmes speech so far which is a shame. They’re all usually so long and over the top with how cheesy they are that it’s the perfect way to end a film.

Overall 8/10

Morning Glory Review


It’s time to look at a rom-com about an early morning news show. I’ve never bothered to watch one myself as if I have to wake up that early in the morning it’s because I’ve got to dash out or have to catch Grand Finals in a tournament. It’s an interesting option though and I suppose it’s good that people have something good and wholesome to watch at that hour. It’s a pretty fun film that had some good potential, but ends up squandering more of it with a rushed romance subplot. Take the rom out of the rom-com and this movie would have been a lot better.

The film starts off with Becky having a good day at work. She has to get up extremely early for her job, but she’s used to it and also enjoys it. Unfortunately she is fired due to corporate wanting to cut down costs and adding someone in from outside the company. Fortunately Becky gets hired by another Early Morning show, but this one has really been under tough times and will soon be cancelled. She has to get the ratings up very quickly or she will be fired once again. To do that she will have to switch up the daily routine of talking about nothing and getting the station to report real news. The first step in this process is bringing back Mike from his unofficial retirement.

Right away Becky is introduced to the politics of the workplace. It’s handled pretty realistically with all of the unwritten rules about who you can and can’t talk to depending on the situation. It really depends on where you work of course, but there are always intangibles to get used to and then the work will go smoothly. Alternately you can try to be oblivious or just boldly ignore the rules and have fun. Work should be fun so just keep that in mind and the rest will fall into place. Becky notices that some of the workers aren’t actually working and that’s part of why the show is going downhill. As such, her first order of business is to fire someone. After that she looks for Mike.

See, Mike is actually hired by the company, but he refuses to work so he is currently earning 6 million dollars just to stay at home and play golf. I forgot that TV reporters are paid so much, but either way it is crazy to see a company effectively throwing away 6 million dollars on someone who doesn’t work. That’s probably the most unrealistic part of the movie if we’re being honest here.

Becky has to use some extreme measures, but before long she gets the station back in shape. She did a really good job of growing into the position considering that she jumped from entry level into being the big boss instantly. That shows how desperate the company was, but also that she had the talent for it all along. The end of the movie is a little iffy though. She is offered a position at a better company where she will be making significantly more money. It’s always a tough call of course, but do you go with the job where you were very close to being fired and have absolutely no job security, but get to hang out with your friends, or go for the big bucks? I don’t really think the latter choice is wrong in this case, but of course it’s ultimately her choice. I do think if you like a job enough then the pay doesn’t matter much, but I certainly do factor job security into that.

The only weak part of Becky’s character is the romance with Adam. So, Adam shows up out of nowhere and they immediately hook up. It’s especially odd since she was only around for like a day and had a pretty big position in the company but he didn’t care. The guy’s a freelance worker, but still, I’d figure that you don’t hit on the boss day 1. My mistake. This romance is just so terrible through and through. Adam is the personification of bad advice as he tries to tell Becky not to take her job too seriously and throws her phone in the fridge so she can’t use it. Even by the end he’s a bad influence and he never got to be even a remotely good character. The romance alone took this film down 2 stars as it was just soooo bad. It’s also basically just an excuse for fanservice as otherwise the film had played it straight. Well, we did have the guy who got fired and his unnecessary gimmick, but at least that didn’t last long.

Mike is portrayed as a really unlikable guy who is super stuck up and the film succeeded on that angle. It’s impossible to root for this guy and the only reason he shows up at all is for the money. There’s nothing heroic about this guy and he just brings in a bad attitude to the company the whole time. He’s an entertaining character of course, but strictly as the villain. I don’t really buy into the cheesy turnaround at the end. Heroic or not though, he is probably the most entertaining part of the film.

Then we’ve got Colleen who has lost all faith in the show and believes that Becky is doomed. I guess this is for good reason since apparently none of the other bosses did very well. At least she was the most open to trying new things though. Without her the show wouldn’t have had a chance. Not much more to say about Adam than what I already covered so we can skip this guy. One of the worst characters in the film. Then we have Lenny who has been with the company for ages, but decided not to move up. He likes his current job since he doesn’t have to work at all and lets everyone else take the risks. Definitely a smart character since sometimes going up isn’t necessarily the best thing to do. Then there is the big boss Jerry. The actor always does a good job of just talking nonstop without taking a breath and that’s what makes the character fun. Jerry doesn’t actually get to do all that much besides that so it’s more of a glorified cameo appearance than anything. Still a very fun character.

As I keep mentioning, the film was just a lot of fun. The writing isn’t amazing or anything, but it manages to deliver on a lot of the jokes. The film doesn’t drag on either so the pacing was well kept as well. The first half does beat the second, but that’s how it is in almost all rom-coms as the second half gets a little more serious since the film has to wrap up at some point. It never gets too weak though, it’s just that the romance scenes really destroy all of its momentum. If you enjoy rom-coms then you likely won’t mind the scenes much so they shouldn’t really impact how much you enjoy the movie.

Overall, Morning Glory is a good ride through the world of TV Broadcasting. The film manages to get quite a few big names in it. Certainly more than I would have expected. The plot is fairly unique and I do like how for once the main character didn’t mess everything up. The trope here is usually that the lead is in over her head and by the end of the film learns how to be a great leader. Here, Becky knew what to do from the start and just kept making the show better and better until it finally surpassed its limits. That’s the kind of main character you want to have. She was almost good enough to save the film.

Overall 5/10

The Greatest Game Ever Played


It’s time to look at a film based on a true story. This one is about The Greatest Game Ever Played, at least in Golf. If we’re talking ever, then it’s probably one of the 1990s Dallas Cowboys Championship games. I can see why this game is well known though as it was one of the first times an amateur was able to take on a professional in a game that went into overtime. It was definitely a very impressive showing. The film is also pretty good about not adding in too much drama and stuff once the Golf starts. It does seem to add in a bit of padding to the first half though which is the part that doesn’t work too well.

Basically Francis has always wanted to be a golfer. Unfortunately his father doesn’t like this option as it’s extremely risky and Francis may not make any money. He would then have a later start on life and that could ruin everything. Francis is okay with putting it all on the line though and after losing his first few golf games he gets ready for the US Open. It’s time to win the biggest tournament of his life, but is Francis really ready for such a feat? He will have to defeat the reigning champ from Europe as well as his counterpart from the U.S., and every other Golf player worth their salt. It won’t be easy, but Francis knows that ultimately you just have to play your own game of Golf and the rest will just sink in.

The golf visuals are pretty nice. The film does its best to make the actual golf look really exciting with how fast the balls move and everyone’s reactions the whole time. There are a bunch of cutaways and dramatic camera angles to sink it in. Some top players are able to erase the surroundings as if they held the Infinity Gauntlet and this lets them really focus. The ball makes uncanny turns to dodge obstacles and even picks up speed when it should have stopped. It may not be the most realistic game of golf out there, but it certainly makes the game more appealing.

The film didn’t always make Francis look great though. He did give his father his word that if he lost he wouldn’t pursue the game anymore and ultimately breaks that promise. He shouldn’t have agreed to such a thing in the first place even if he was under duress at the time. He was a kid at the time so I suppose I can’t be too hard on him. He does get distracted and knocked off of his game rather easily though. His partner has to constantly remind him to tune everyone out, but Francis still loses many shots as a direct result of this.

As I mentioned earlier, the first half of the film before the tournament doesn’t hold up quite as well. They try to give the older Europe champion a bit of a backstory. It’s never properly delved into, but you can get the gist of it from the images. It just feels a little forced into the story since it ultimately isn’t too relevant. Francis’ drama at the beginning also isn’t quite as interesting as the actual golf. I don’t know how much of this all happened in the real life accounts, but I suppose if it was all there then of course they would have to add it in.

I can’t say much about the ending since it’s all based on true events, but either way I thought it was handled pretty well. All in all there really wasn’t anything bad to say about the movie. At most you might not be thrilled to see just how bad and snobbish the people of England look the whole time. No one from the nobility looks even slightly good and they all just don’t seem to like the people from Jersey. It makes it very easy to root for the Americans. The American top player is a really loud guy who has a chip on his shoulder so he constantly yells at everybody. You still want to root for him over the others since at least he’s fighting for everyone. The others just want the rich to win so they can rub it in everyone’s face.

Overall, The Greatest Game Ever Played is definitely a classy film. The golf games are also the best that I’ve seen as I haven’t watched any other Golf movie at the moment. The writing is pretty solid and even the romance was handled rather well as it doesn’t eat up a ton of screen time or accelerate past realism. The characters just talked a bit and then left to their separate ways never to see each other again. It was a happy ending for all of the characters and aside from the rich nobility who were humiliated, the top players were just happy to have had a good game. At the end of the day that’s what you want. If you’re interested in this story then I definitely recommend checking it out. It’ll help you appreciate why we all take Golf so seriously.