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The Valley of Gwangi Review

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It’s time for a classic dinosaur adventure. In a way this is a whole lot like Jurassic Park, the old version. Perhaps that’s a surface level similarity but eh it’s close enough.

The movie starts off with a big shot named Tuck deciding to visit a small horse show on his way to the arena. He runs into his ex, T.J. Her show is really struggling, due in no small part to his running out on her for riches and glory. He offers her a chance to go with him but this time she stays strong and won’t fall for his tricks….for like 10 minutes. He sweet talks her into joining his side once again. What she doesn’t realize is that this will ultimately take her into the forbidden valley of Gwangi! This is due to the star tiny horse being stolen by a bunch of native conspiracy theorists who believe that he belongs back on the valley.

Okay so there are a lot of problems with the main dynamic from the start. Tuck seems to mainly be interested in using T.J. He walked out on her easily enough the first time and now he really wants to buy her main horse. She only agrees because she found the mini one with mystical properties but otherwise he was putting on a lot of pressure was already failing. Keep in mind that it’s not a one girl show. She has a whole team and other workers doing their best and now Tuck wants to take the one act that still draws some fans?

For reference, she and the horse jump into a pool of water which is surrounded by flames. I can’t say the act sounds all that interesting but generally all of the animal acts make me feel that way. Anything that has even the slightest bit of danger to the animal makes it all not worth it. We also get bull fighting and the like so you’re shaking your head throughout all of this. The main thing that stays constant throughout all of this is that Tuck isn’t the nicest guy.

Sure, by the end the romance and everything works out but it really shouldn’t have. This romance was poorly thought out right from the start and hurts T.J. as a character for entertaining this as well. Lope has a pretty big role as the kid helping Tuck out but he’s too young to be able to fight or anything like that. He doesn’t end up contributing a ton.

Horace goads the Gwangi tribefolk into kidnapping the mini horse so he is the one who really sets everything into motion. Of course I’d say he didn’t really think this through. Things could have easily been fatal for all of them. The thieves knocked out the guard after all but could have easily murdered everyone. The pursuit of knowledge alone is naturally not worth all of the sacrifice for this.

You could say the film really starts once they make it onto the valley though. Now we have all of the dinosaurs and the action. The main characters take this a lot calmer than you would expect as they talk about getting the dinosaurs into the circus act and all. You’d think that it would be a much bigger deal that dinosaurs exist right? I guess back in the day it may have been slightly less of a big deal since you could assume crazy extinct animals exist all over in different pockets.

The professor is probably the most impressed by default but that guy is the type of man to choose research over safety. For the most part you’re going to feel bad for the dinosaurs though. They aren’t quite ready to be dealing with humans. Right off the bat one of them gets his neck broken by the humans. You’d think the dinosaur would have been a bit stronger. Along the way you have dinosaurs destroying each other as well.

The effects are handled pretty impressively for its time. Of course this is to the detriment of the film since the dinosaurs bleed quite a bit and the film isn’t shying away from actually having a body count here. It just should have been more humans dying than the actual dinosaurs if you ask me. So the film is ahead of its time and dinosaur fans will get a kick out of it but it definitely didn’t end up being my style.

The king of the dinosaurs here is Gwangi and for the most part he looks like a normal dinosaur. He is ultimately defeated by the humans and forced to be in the circus which is definitely the ultimate disgrace for a proud creature like this. He gets some revenge later on by taking down some of the humans at least. Now you’re supposed to be rooting for the humans but by this point in the review you can see that I’m team Dinosaur. The humans just aren’t likable.

At least in the most recent Jurassic World film they are trying to create a rare medicine out of the dinosaur dna so there is some kind of a noble cause. Here, it’s really just about the money. They want to improve the circus act with the dinosaurs. The professor wants to increase his knowledge but has disregard for who has to pay for this progress. Ultimately there is a lot of selfishness going on here and all of the violence that ensues is directly the fault of the humans.

It makes the dinosaur violence feel even worse because the whole time you know they would have had more peace without the humans. Yeah, the dinosaur vs dinosaur stuff would still be happening but we wouldn’t be seeing it at least! Shoutout to the old lady at the beginning who warned everyone about the valley though. I was glad that she was actually correct and not just crazy. Yeah, they are usually right in these kinds of creature features but I was still happy for her. She probably gives Gwangi a little too much credit in terms of sentience but it was close enough.

Overall, The Valley of Gwangi does deliver on giving you a ton of dinosaur action. It’s the kind of film that does live up to the premise so you don’t have to worry about being misled here. If you want to see a survival film with dinosaurs showing up and the humans having to deal with them, then you’re in luck. This is the film for you. It is an unapologetic dinosaur film with pretty strong effects. Now if you don’t want to see the dinosaurs and are worried about the annoying humans, then this is definitely a film to give a hard skip.

Overall 3/10

To Be Hero X Review

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This show really took the world by storm with how big it got. Right away you could see that the animation was really top notch here. It was also going to take the interesting approach of airing backwards. Each story arc would take place before the one that just happened. Each of the top 10 heroes got their own animated short early on to introduce them and then you’d get to see them within the story. Each character got something to do and there was also live voting for the top 10 heroes which would possibly determine seeding in the tournament. The whole thing was really bold and I dare say that it was a complete success.

In this world, heroes gain their power directly from their fans. If the fans believe something then it will happen. As a result the hero industry has become huge in the entertainment field with companies sponsoring heroes and also manufacturing different crisis events for them to solve. As long as a hero has supporters, he will continue to be powerful. However, this also means that the hero will lose their freedom right away. If the fans don’t want you to get together with someone or to move way then you physically can’t. In a way it’s a very scary thing but you won’t find out about it until you become a hero. We follow different heroes as they encounter this reality and have to decide how to move forward.

This is a show that is really all about setting up season 2 so hopefully they are able to make it that far. If not, well it was still a real blast to see how this one played out. To say it is elite is not an overstatement. This is a show with a ton of replay value and I’ve seen lots of the fights several times. It’s crazy how much budget went into it and it’s one of the few shows that could pull off 3D and 2D. It was also fun to really be involved in the predictions and theories online like the in universe reason for the 3D.

This show being marketed as a multi media franchise with things happening in universe and out of it was rather brilliant. Also the soundtrack is top tier. A lot of the heroes have their own themes and they really work out well. Ther is a lot of variety here and the themes all have a lot of power to them. The lyrics make sense and they just make you more excited for what’s going to happen. The opening and ending were both really good as well. I could go on, the point is that everything about this show is really top notch. Season 2 will have a hard time matching up to this but with a tournament coming up, that is already a promising start.

The first episodes are about Lin Ling. Lin was just an average citizen who would write about the top heroes when he witnesses one of the most popular heroes jump off the building to his death. The PR agency grabs Lin and tells him that he must act as Nice. By tricking the fans into thinking that he is the real deal, Lin will gradually be changed into Nice. He slowly starts to gain abilities and even his appearance but what are the limits to this? Will Lin in effect become Nice mentally as well? Will he still be his own person? Lin isn’t sure about this but for now he will play ball with the group. Things get dangerous with Nice’s girlfriend Moon is kidnapped. Saving her won’t be easy.

This story arc sets up a lot of the subtle elements of the show like how the fans having this level of power may not purely be a good thing. It sounds really good on paper of course but if they have total control of your life, then things can get really dangerous. One example is when they prevent Lin from going to save Moon because they fear that it is the wrong move. Lin’s only possible escape there is to separate from his identity as Nice. It’s easier said than done to do this though.

Lin is a great main character and this was a good story arc to begin the series with. Even by the end it may be the best one of the bunch. It’s not necessarily the flashiest or anything like that but it’s a clear character arc for the lead and the fights are great. It is also the source of all the intrigue here since almost every other episode after this is a flashback. That really changes how you look at the first arc afterwards from all the other angles.

Moon is also a solid heroine and she had a tough draw so you do feel bad for her. Having to play the role of girlfriend for a while to a jerk is tough. Also because of the fan influence it’s not easy to get away from him which is why she needs to fake her own death. Her ability is more of a support one as well so she’s not going to be getting in there and landing a lot of powerful blows either. In this world, being doomed to be a supporting character is a tough fate as well.

Wreck is a character who hasn’t appeared much yet but he was solid. He’s a great fighter and was a friend to the original Nice. So you figure that’ll come into play more in future episodes. He will probably be a powerful ally that Lin can rely on. I liked his design and he was a good contrast. We also can’t forget about Enlighter who is a crazy good investigator. Lin may end up making him look crazy for a while there but the guy was absolutely right on his hunches. Ultimately he succumbed to the dark powers too quickly as a shortcut and that was his biggest problem. He was still a lot of fun to have around though.

We also meet Firm-Man who really suffers due to the fans. They believe him to always be up-right and firm to the point where he physically cannot bend down. It is his ultimate curse. Now by this point you’re wondering why he doesn’t just tell people about this in a speech. Let them know that justice can bend or something. Perhaps he isn’t fully aware of it being the public’s fault but it’s implied that he knows about it. Maybe there would be a severe punishment for this? Either way I would have liked a more concrete answer because changing public perception should just be the way to go in situations like this.

Then we have the E-Soul arc. In this one, a kid named Yang starts out as an actor who portrays E-Soul in a play. He gradually gets close to a girl he has a crush with. After stopping some thugs, people even start to believe in him. His fake E-Soul suit becomes the real deal and his power really starts to grow. The thing is, there should only be one of each hero. His power is directly draining from the actual E-Soul’s. Finally a match is set up to determine who will continue the legacy of that hero. Yang doesn’t intend to lose here but is he perhaps a little too desperate for power?

Yang is a good main character here but right away you can tell that the show is letting him be a bit more sinister than Lin. This guy is determined to be the strongest no matter what and has a huge chip on his shoulder. The end of Lin Ling’s arc also means that you’re going to be on edge as well. So you don’t trust him for a lot of reasons but I do like the E-Soul design and his powers are certainly really cool. Super speed and electricity is a deadly combination.

The old E-Soul doesn’t get a whole lot to do in comparison. He doesn’t really want to change his ways or even acknowledge a lot of what’s happening. I’d argue that he looks really complacent at best and that comes back to haunt him here. He’s not a bad guy but you aren’t really given much to root for with his character.

Then we have Lucky Cyan’s arc. She started out as a survivor from a big airplane crash. She was the soul survivor and now lives at an orphanage. The orphanage is a bit strange though and she has dreamed of leaving to become an idol. In the meantime people have started to treat her as a prophet of sorts. Her luck has made the news and people feel like she can spread it around to them. Perhaps she can…but perhaps it is simply the will of the people that is doing this. However the power worked, she is incredibly powerful now even though she has never fought a battle before.

Lucky knows that this isn’t healthy and that she has to go but it won’t be easy. She’ll have to fight her way out and may have a rift with her best friend over this. That’s because another train of thought suggests that she gets this good luck by stealing it from others. If so, that puts a much darker spin on things. Lucky can’t control this, all she can do is try to be the best hero that she can be. So she continues to move forward and doesn’t let these events get her down. Ultimately I would say that it’s a much happier arc than the first two in tone. It’s fitting for a girl who is known as being lucky. The arc also sets up several supporting characters who will grow to have bigger and bigger roles as the series goes on.

After that we focus on Queen who is one of the highest ranking heroes in the world. She was really close to claiming 1st but got destroyed by X, the number 1 hero. This messes with her confidence but she keeps on fighting. Unfortunately, a former champ known as Bowa does not take this well at all and latches onto fear in order to gain more power. Trust is the term for the power that ignites the heroes and fear is what the dark power that fuels villains is called. the contrast makes a lot of sense.

Bowa is super petty the whole time but makes for a good villain. The fight itself was definitely real intense. Meanwhile Queen is a really good heroine. She is actually trying to change the whole system and is trying to grow in her political movement. Of course to make a real difference she will need to become the #1 hero and that’s going to be incredibly difficult to manage. Right now X appears to be completely invincible. How you even begin to fight such a guy seems impossible to think about.

Then we have the story arc about Loli. She wants to fight crime and use her robot suit but everyone sees her as a cute little girl which prevents her from building up a ton of muscle. Gradually at least she gets people to respect her abilities while in the suit even if her father is rather over protective the whole time. That’s at least something that she can really deal with here. She looks out for her friend and makes for a solid character. I do think she tends to get overshadowed by most of the other top heroes though. She is really good, but just doesn’t stand out. Additionally you feel like a robot suit is not enough for her to hold her own against most of the top heroes.

We also get to see another former #1 hero in DJ. DJ continues to show us why the previous top heroes were not all that impressive. This guy has fallen off into tough times and easily lets himself get taken into the dark side. The musical attacks are pretty interesting and I do see a lot of potential there. I think he could have been a more powerful villain if he was given more time to really get set up. Having a tough time with Loli doesn’t really help his case.

Ghostblade also shows up here briefly but gets his own arc afterwards. We see that he has a hard time communicating with others. He actually still managed to get married and have a daughter but things quickly become tense and he is written out of their lives. From that point forward he is even more isolated but watches over his daughter in secret. As a contract killer it’s not like he is a good person though. This even puts him in a tough position since he murders the father of a current top 10 hero.

He’s an interesting character though because it was nice to see a top hero who isn’t actually a “hero” all the way. That’s something that you figure would be happening from time to time with how the system works. People don’t always look up to the nicest of folk after all. He also gets to crush DJ in this battle. That guy can’t catch a break but Ghostblade also does seem to be one of the more powerful heroes.

Then we have Little Johnny. Right now he has to be one of the blandest characters but part of it may be by design. He is trying to figure out who murdered his father. As the viewer you know that it is Ghostblade but he doesn’t know that. He tries to always keep a positive mindset about things but you can feel the rage behind that. So what I’m banking on is that this will be what makes him a more compelling character. For now though, he’s essentially a kid who is out of his league right now. His pet monster is certainly powerful but Johnny himself isn’t very impressive.

In his arc we also meet Vortex who is another former #1. This guy actually seems really powerful so you can get why he was a full on legend. Power over the weather is always a good ability and it didn’t seem like he got really corrupted the way that a lot of the others were. So he gets props on having a strong will as well which is something that a lot of ex heroes were missing.

As we approach the end, Dragon Boy gets the next slot. We’ve got another villainous figure this time. He was raised by one of the corporate sponsors to be the next big villain so it was going to be tough for him to get on the right road from the start. His ability is about tanking damage long enough for him to copy his aggressor’s abilities. It’s a cool ability so long as you can stay in the fight that long. It’s a big if though and that’s where things get pretty tricky. He does well against both Smile and Nice so right now his abilities have a high limit to them.

I’m a bit skeptical if this will continue to be the case but for now he has to be a contender as one of the strongest fighters. He makes for a good villain so I’m excited about that. Then we have Smile who feels like a Superman type of figure. How much he has to force himself to smile is an interesting topic. Is it the fans or Smile himself trying to keep up an image? I tend to think it’s more the latter which makes this another scary curse. Imagine having to constantly be smiling no matter what’s going on? That’s not a fun fate for anyone to have. Things really got rough for Smile here and I’d have liked to have seen more of him.

Nice also gets a big role here and I should talk about him separate from Lin Ling. Smile is a much pettier character and he doesn’t have the mental fortitude that Lin Ling has. Smile constantly lets the pressure get to him and doesn’t stand up for himself. Even when he makes the right decision it’s not until he has hesitated for quite a while. I can’t say that I ever liked him here. He doesn’t even work as a cool villain because he’s too whiny. Unless we get some twists about the first episode, he ultimately wasn’t able to stay strong in the end either.

After that we wind down with quick episodes for the last heroes. The first is Ahu who is a dog but gained the ability to talk and everything as he became a legend. It shows that the power of the fans can even affect animals. It’s a pretty interesting effect. I can’t say that I can take him too seriously though. He doesn’t seem nearly as powerful as the other heroes. He also seems to be easily manipulated like when he went after X at the end. A nice enough pup but I don’t see him winning a single match against a named opponent in season 2.

Finally we have X, the ultimate hero. He has reality warping abilities where he can switch the world from 2D to 3D by snapping his fingers. Which world is the real one? Well we don’t even know. In addition to this he has very quick reflexes and basically never gets hit. He can end most matches in an instant and is virtually unbeatable. It’ll be curious to see how someone gets the jump on him eventually but for now it’s hard to picture that happening without some serious plot convenience. This guy is just too broken and powerful. There is a reason why he is known as being unbeatable after all.

This guy is also super likable so that’s another added bonus. He’s easy to root for Generally I like the overpowered characters so I’m not too surprised. X has unbelievable confidence and just says it like it is. He clearly has some kind of a plan as the season ends so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. There are so many ways that the next season can play out. Almost half of the heroes are evil at this point and everyone has an agenda. Some range from being dangerous to flat out world ending threats.

The final episode has a new ending which also shows a bunch of new villains. So there might be some kind of outer space invasion that forces everyone to team up. That would be an interesting angle to pursue but I admit I’ll be a little sad if we just completely skip the tournament. I would not want to do that! At least let me have a few small fights to rank the heroes. I also really need Lin Ling to confront E-Soul. I don’t even know how E-Soul is still alive right now. Lin should have put him 6 feet under as soon as they met so the show is going to need to give me some really good explanations for this. It’s going to be a hard plot to write around.

Overall, To Be Hero X is a really intense series. It took a lot of bold approaches like airing all of the arcs backwards and the shifting animation styles. Even releasing the exact order of the arcs and who the leads would be before the series even started airing. It spoke to the confidence of the show and I hope it was well founded so we get the second season soon. If you haven’t watched the show yet then you should definitely check this one out. It’s an elite action show and has the daunting task of trying to create a whole universe about heroes like Marvel and DC. It is definitely on the right track though. It also set the bar extremely high for animation so season 2 has an insane amount of pressure on it.

Overall 9/10

The Town Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film about committing crime in a small town. Definitely not the best option in general but it’s extra rough here when a ton of people are into crime. The main crew have been doing this for a while but things are shaken up when the leader falls in love. Is he going to mess this up for everyone or are they the ones who are getting greedy?

The film starts off with introducing us to Doug and his posse. They just completed a huge bank heist and are basically set for life. Doug figures this is it for the jobs but his partner Jem doesn’t think so. Jem has been gone for quite a while in jail so he is itching for more jobs. Doug thinks this is a really bad idea but Jem doesn’t tend to take no for an answer and makes it clear that Doug leaving may cause some problems. In their bank heist, Jem panicked and took a hostage. She was let go but heard all of their voices and got to see a lot. Doug checks up on her but falls in love and now they’re dating. Jem worries that this could mean death for their group if she puts two and two together.

So on the first part, Jem is right that this is a really dumb idea. You should never date your hostage. That’s just a really bad idea because it does make sense that she would be a liability. She may not have realizes anything just yet but it is possible that she could make the connection at any point. It was Jem’s fault for making her a hostage in the beginning but Doug really compounded the issue here. He is a bit in denial of this the whole time but it was a bad move.

Now Jem is still crazy the whole time and should have been satisfied with the big score at the beginning. It seems like it’s less about the money and more like he just really wants to live an exciting life. He almost thrives on these life or death situations like when he accompanies Doug to go beat up some people who were harassing his girlfriend. Doug didn’t need to give him any details and Jem was still ready to bust up a bunch of heads.

The town is effectively ruled by the crime lord known as Fergie. He’s really not the smartest character on the block though. Sure, Doug was planning to leave and Fergie wanted to stop that but he does so by basically rage baiting Doug a whole lot by revealing how he destroyed the guy’s parents. That doesn’t seem like a good move if you’re planning to stay alive. If anything, it feels like a good way to shorten the remainder of your life span.

This guy is still just a man after all. He can summon up a bunch of help but that’s not going to help a whole lot when he lets Doug meet with him whenever. His ending is one of the most predictable parts of the film. If anything, I think Doug let him get away with too much for quite a while there. You usually need to take someone out of the picture near instantly in this kind of situation.

Then we have his girlfriend Claire who is okay. I think she was moving rather quickly with the romance but she doesn’t know about the robber part and I can’t blame her for that. Not just anyone would have been able to make the connection there. Later on I suppose her reaction is justified enough about how she gets upset with Doug. If anything she probably should have ratted him out. From her perspective, he’s a total villain who manipulated her. It would be dangerous to assume that any part of their relationship was real. She decides to believe in it but I just don’t think that was a great idea.

For the most part the FBI agents are completely in over their heads but I did appreciate that the film made them look decent. They couldn’t crack the case officially for a while there but at least they had leads. It’s just that in a town like this, all of the crooks would look after each other so there wasn’t much in the way of hard proof to get after anyone. You had to try and work around that which isn’t easy. When it came down to the climactic shootout, they were ready.

Then you’ve got Krista, the crazy ex. As soon as she shows up, you know that she’ll be trouble and that’s exactly what happens. She is here to really cause some mixups and keep Doug stressed out. She had a tough lot in life but a lot of it was self sabotage with the drugs. It’s why you should never get involved in that business in the first place. Aside from damaging your body, it makes it easy for others to blackmail or just plain manipulate you.

There is quite a bit of action in here aside from it being a mental thriller. The Town keeps you engaged the whole time but it is also a bit of a downer movie. There’s not a whole lot to cheer for here and the ending is more of a bitter sweet one at best. Everyone has lost something by the end and so it felt like they couldn’t really escape their destinies in the long run. They grew up in a crime filled neighborhood and it destroyed them all. It would have been nice to have had a more positive resolution to wrap everything up.

Or maybe a happier middle in there. The film succeeds as a thriller with quick pacing but it has almost no replay value because of this. It’s not a film you’ll want to look up. I will say the film did a better job of making a likable antagonist as the lead compared to other titles. Doug was someone you could almost root for since he was trying to get out of the game and did his best not to hurt anyone. Still a criminal but he could have been a lot worse.

Overall, The Town is a film about how sometimes it can be really hard to go on the straight and narrow. Doug tries his best but the odds were stacked against him. Maybe if he left on his own but then he had to go and fall in love at the worst possible time. There’s definitely a lesson to be had with that. You have to be careful with those feelings because they can really pull you in the wrong direction especially if you go too fast and that romance felt pretty rushed. If you want to see a film about a criminal trying to go straight, this is a pretty decent one to check out. It’s a bit too dreary for me though and so it just doesn’t pass the bar. I’ll go with a classic thriller instead.

Overall 4/10

Marvel’s Avengers Review

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After all these years I get to see what all the fuss was about for this game. It really had a tragic history as the game decided to be a live service title and those never do well. I contributed to this since I never got the game. Live service can work to be sure but I generally think it needs to be a free to play title. Even then the market is pretty saturated at this point. The game goes for dirt cheap nowadays though and you get all of the unlockables by default so that’s a lot of content. Ultimately it is a great game and I hope one day we get another big budget Avengers game that is made with a proper ending.

The story starts off with you playing as Kamala. She was at the big Avengers expo when they are attacked by a bunch of robots. They manage to stop the invasion but not before thousands of people are murdered and a genetic weapon is exploded which forcibly alters the DNA of many in attendance. These people are being referred to as the Inhumans and they are being hunted by AIM. AIM now controls the entire country and continues to spread. The Avengers have broken up and are too depressed to do much about this. So Kamala will have to save the world and reunite the team in the process.

It’s definitely an ambitious story here. The game decides to not actually have the Avengers present for nearly the entire base story. I feel like you could only make this decision if you actually think that you’ll be around for years and years. So I do like the confidence, I can really appreciate that. That being said, it is a risky move for a reason. You’re probably looking forward to properly playing as Captain America and Thor who have not really had a triple budget experience prior to this. Hulk and Iron Man have had their fun before but not the rest of the team.

We do get the 4 DLC update stories though so that’s pretty fun to play through. The Avengers are finally back for those and we gradually unlock more and more characters. There are well over 100 missions within the game and tons of items to buy and such. The menus for upgrading equipment and stats can be a bit overly convoluted though. There are just so many menus. It reminds me of a mobile game where you decide to download it in year 3 and there’s just so much going on. I think the best games can mitigate this to an extent but Avengers does feel pretty overwhelming at times.

Like I mentioned, the gameplay is really why you’re here though. It’s very solid with a lot of care being put into the combat system. You have a whole lot of attack options at your disposal so you can approach a fight in different ways. Additionally you have numerous takedown animations and can equip up to 11 at a time. Mix that in with the dozens of costumes for each character and you’ve got so many options at your disposal. It’s really a fun thing to see.

Keeping up with the best gear and equipment can be a bit of a nuisance but it’s not completely necessary. There was just one fight that was particularly tough for me and that was the Maestro. He beat me several times so I actually had to pay attention to my gear. All of the DLC missions auto scale their level to match yours which is why they are considerably tougher. Definitely keep that in mind since you may even want to pick a weak fighter for that reason. Go too weak and it’ll feel just as painful though.

The graphics are definitely really good. This feels like 1st party Sony from the character designs to the destroyable environments. I don’t have any real issues on the visuals. The soundtrack is a bit generic though. Now the biggest issue here are the loading times. They are absolutely brutal and far longer than you would expect. The first time you boot up the game for each session can take almost 5 minutes to actually start playing. Then between every mission you get close to 2 minutes of loading times.

These really add up as you play the game and it’s the one big technical issue here. You’ll run into some visual ones as well but this is one that actually affects gameplay which is what makes it a really big deal. It’s too bad they couldn’t have optimized this a little bit in the final dlc update or something. That would have been cool but making everything free offline was already a big step so I suppose I won’t say much here.

Each character has a very unique moveset so you don’t have to worry about them all feeling the same. I enjoyed playing as Iron Man the most because I always love beam spamming. The other characters were all fun too and the main story forces you to play as quite a few of them which is a good thing. Otherwise I have a tendency to just stick to my favorite character the whole time. I found Black Widow to be the toughest character to play as so it’s no coincidence that I lost several times when playing as her. I doubt they literally made her the weakest on purpose or anything but that would be funny if that was the case.

Overall, Avengers is a pretty great game. Definitely one I would recommend checking out. You have a lot of parkour and high octane action. It’s the kind of 3D experience I feel like we don’t see a whole lot of from Marvel outside of a few characters. Spider-Man typically gets a lot of action but otherwise Marvel isn’t super active. We need more games like this, but done offline. It’s a shame we couldn’t get to the end of the story here but the journey is still long enough to make this a W either way. You’re getting a pretty decent amount of content within this one and that’s not even counting all of the side content. It should keep you busy for quit a long while. If they ever make another Avengers game then I’ll be ready to check it out. Hopefully that can arrive sooner than later.

Overall 8/10

Witch Watch Review

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It’s time for a pretty fun comedic action title. Witch Watch is a manga that ended up being a whole lot more fun than I was expecting it to be. Fortunately I can say that the anime did a great job matching that energy as well. So all in all this is definitely a fun anime to check out and it’s very well rounded. The type of show you can enjoy even if you aren’t really familiar with anime as a medium.

The story follows a girl named Nico. She is a witch and has always had trouble mastering her powers. She spent years being taught by the best and now she has returned to her home town. She will be living at Moi’s house. He has been assigned to be her guardian since he is an ogre and they used to be best friends back in the day. What Moi doesn’t realize is that Nico is in love with him. He is determined to be an amazing bodyguard and has no time to worry about such things. There are many sorcerers out there who want to take Nico away because she is the prophecies witch of thousands. She will grow to be the most powerful being on the planet. This won’t be an easy fight for Moi but along the way they will be making more friends.

Now that sounded like a very action filled synopsis so keep in mind that this is a comedy first. Witch Watch is just good at unapologetically going all in on each genre. So you will have pure comedy episodes on one hand and then you will be going straight into full action on the other. The show always takes itself seriously during these climaxes but knows how to relax once again after that. So it’s easily a lot more well rounded than nearly any of the other shows out there.

The animation is consistently good at all times. It’s very colorful and vibrant. You also really feel the impact of the spells. It’s not going to be the Demon Slayer or anything like that but it gets the job done. On the sound, I do think the little jingle that happens whenever a spell is cast can get old pretty quick. I wouldn’t mind if that was toned down quite a bit for the next season. The soundtrack as a whole is okay but for now this may be the weakest part of the series. There’s definitely nothing that would make my playlist and the openings are only okay.

Where the series is strongest is with the humor and fun atmosphere. As the Moi house gets more and more filled with the new recruits, the show lets us get a lot of fun dynamics to see at play. The episodic nature of the series means that just about everyone gets their time to shine. The cast is a whole lot bigger than you would expect for a comedy series. In a way it reminds me of Gintama and the payoff for this tends to be really good because then you can see all of the characters assemble together when the action part comes in.

The show also goes all in with the gags. For example we have a manga within the series called Uron Mirage which is a big action title. We get a whole episode segment devoted to it which had its own opening and ending. That was a really good attention to detail and helped the whole thing feel more real. It also makes you look forward to each episode because you never know which plot will appear. There are so many going on at once.

For the most part the show is completely episodic though. There may be a 2 parter every now and again but most episodes have 2 or even 3 segments as a result. So you are getting a ton of adventures but they can go by pretty quickly. The actual plot of Nico and her magic won’t be moving forward very much. Just think of this as the introduction arc and also pay attention to the spells Nico can use as you try to picture what she can do with them in an action context. Hint, most of them seem pretty useless in that regard.

For the characters, Moi is a great MC as you’d expect. He’s always good at getting right to business and doesn’t let himself get distracted by matters of the heart. It’s what separates him from a lot of other characters. Additionally, his super strength consistently comes in handy. Some may say that he should be embracing his emotional side more but eh I can see why he holds back. That’s just not him, but as the series goes on he does try to fit in with everyone as best he can. Moi’s just not the best at showing emotions on his face even if he is really happy about something.

At times he may be a bit too studious but honestly you could have far worse traits than that. Then we have Nico who is a solid heroine. You definitely feel bad for her with how hard she tries to get Moi to notice her. It’s just a really uphill battle for her and we start to even learn why this is really the case as the series goes on. Sometimes she will use magic a little too recklessly but her goal is to make everyone happy so you have to take some risks in order to make that happen.

It would be good if she could learn some more spells for self defense though. The dangers are only going to get more intense from here. Kanshi is the next member of the cast to join the Moi household. He may not be as tough as the ogre but he can still put up a decent fight when needed. He tends to be the guy that everyone steps on because of how goofy he is. The poor guy usually can’t catch a break but he’s loyal and everyone can count on him. That’s just how these things go sometimes.

Then we have Keigo who has the toughest magic element since he is fused with Wolf. They are two different personas that share the same body. They also like the same girl so that makes things extra complicated. Keigo suffers from confidence issues since he is just a normal guy while Wolf has super speed and strength nearly on par with Moi. Hopefully Keigo will one day awaken abilities of his own. In the meantime he just has to do his best and he is also still breaking out of his shell like Moi.

Miharu joins the group rather late in the show so he’ll get to do a lot more in season 2. Either way he is my least favorite member of the main group so that works out well enough for me. He’s part vampire so he can drain energy and add it onto his own. He’s certainly powerful but always speaks his mind and doesn’t really have a filter which can get the group into trouble at times. He’ll definitely need to watch that and hopefully he can improve his stamina down the road.

Then we have Nemu who has magic powers like Nico. Hers are much more limited though as she can turn into animals and that’s basically it. Still, it was nice for Nico to have another witch nearby. Initially Nemu liked Moi but now her feelings are confused with Keigo and Wolf. Her episodes always have a lot of very preventable danger scenarios due to her being way too nervous. The episodes work well though and she is a fun supporting character to have around..

The weakest episodes tend to be the ones about Yuri and Kukumi. Yuri is a huge anime/manga fan but works as a teacher and doesn’t want anyone to judge her so she keeps this a secret. Then you have Kukumi who is a really good artist and has been making a fanfic version of Uron Mirage. The two end up becoming best friends and they go on a lot of adventures together. I enjoy the segments about the Uron Mirage series itself but the two girls otherwise have a very limited dynamic. There are only so many gags you can do about Yuri hiding her true power level irl. I’m hoping Yuri will eventually just be bold enough to be a fan out in the open.

Then we have the student council. I enjoy how crazy all of them are. They each represent different character tropes and I’d say that they represent them very well. The most noticeable one is Tenryu who is always holding onto his cap very tightly. This character is easy to root for and is one of the most logical characters next to Moi. He doesn’t let his enthusiasm run away from him and knows how to keep everyone in check. Now that is an underrated skill right there.

There haven’t been too many notable villains yet. One of them was a witch named Ayako who went after Nico. Ultimately her magic may have seemed impressive but her true form wasn’t all that strong. Taking her down wasn’t hard once the heroes could figure out where she was. Ryohei was a little more impressive since his water abilities really had the whole gang wrapped up. That was one time where the vampire actually made himself useful.

It’s clear that the series is holding onto the big villains for now. The heroes are essentially gaining experience by clearing out the weakest fighters. Then the big shots will start to appear in the next season. This way the opening season is really for character meetings and calm times. I’d say that it’s a sound approach and while not every show could execute this plan, Witch Watch certainly did.

Honestly it can even get a little educational at times. Whether it is commentary on running a Youtube channel or how to properly wash your jeans, there is a lot to really focus on here. At the end of the day though, Witch Watch is just a show that’s fun to watch. It may sound simple but not every show can get this kind of cozy atmosphere to really work right out of the gate. At the very least you’d expect the episodes to wildly vary in quality but I generally enjoy just about all of the dynamics. I haven’t seen a comedy balance so well between genres since Hitman Reborn! and Gintama. Of course when the action comes, I won’t have time to miss the comedy because of good those parts are.

Now the show is also part romance but it tends to be played up in a very comedic way. That’ll get serious eventually too but for now it works well enough. I’d say the Moi and Nico ship is a solid one that’s going to have a lot of buildup so it’ll work either way. The Nemu one is probably going to be a lot weaker from what we’ve already seen. She has too tough of a time making up her mind and that’s a recipe for disaster. Still, romance is hardly the central focus of the series so you shouldn’t watch it just for that. Now if you like a sprinkling of romance with your comedy then you’re all set.


Overall, Witch Watch is definitely a series that I recommend. Each episode will string you in with whatever magical situation is about to occur. You can easily sympathize with the different situations there and the unique drawbacks to each spell will make you wonder if they are worth it or not. Don’t watch this one anticipating a grand scheme or anything. At best that would be in the next season and either way I don’t think that will be any time soon. So just enjoy the comedy here and you’ll be just fine.

Overall 7/10

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Review

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It’s time for another legendary Final Fantasy adventure. This one really switches up the mechanics quite a lot. I have to admit that going into it I didn’t know a whole lot about the gameplay. I kind of just assumed it was the same ole style as the others but in this case it was actually quite different. Leveling up isn’t particularly necessary here and is in fact discouraged for parts of the game. I tend to be a heavy farming guy though so that would be a real change of pace. Give me an RPG and I’ll usually give you a few hours of fighting every minion that I can.

The game follows a group called SeeD, who are soldiers with a mysterious purpose. Squall has always been extremely talented but he’s not the most personable fellow. He does the job but isn’t here to make friends. He does share a nice dance with a new girl who shows up though and it turns out that she is with a resistance faction. This is going to get Squall into a lot of trouble right? Well, the whole group is in trouble as he starts to find out about the secret bosses behind the organization and that their purpose may be rather nefarious as well. Additionally, he’s having these strange dreams of being someone else in the past. What can it all mean?

Final Fantasy VIII does a great job of reminding you how weird the franchise could be back in the day. Final Fantasy is part of what popularized the trope of RPGs having incredibly convoluted plots with tons of twists that would shock the normal audience. This game fits quite in with that as we have time travel, abilities that let you transcend time, and there are a ton of twists. The story is definitely great and the ending really seals the deal in a good way. If you haven’t checked this one out yet then you should get on that.

So what about the gameplay then? Well, it’s an active turn based combat system similar to Final Fantasy XIII. When it’s your turn you have to move quickly because the opponent’s turn gauge is still loading up. This is one of the toughest things because you have a whole lot of options and you have to go through them quickly. We’re talking attacks, magic, summons, draws, etc. Now what are draws? Well they’re a big point of emphasis in this game.

You can basically drain an enemy’s magic to use as your own. Sometimes they will even have a secret summon hidden among the options. The tricky thing is that it can feel like a waste of a turn at times. You can stockpile magic which helps with the grind though. See, your summon can be equipped and then you add magic onto your connection which increases your stat.

You can equip magic to each stat based on if your summon has them unlocked. Then if you have 100 of that magic spell, it will greatly increase your stats. That means you probably don’t want to be using that magic a whole lot though. It’s really hard to keep track of all this though and if you don’t draw enough, you’ll actually lose out on some summons which is rough. By the end of the game I got most of them but still missed around 4 or so which means that my stats were permanently nerfed.

When battling enemies you earn EXP for yourself and for your summons. You can then have the summons learn new abilities through AP which you then connect onto yourself. It’s a whole lot of things to remember and you can only equip 2-3 abilities at a time out of dozens. So choose carefully. Also make sure you actually add magic/summons as options on your menu or you will wind up in battle with only the ability to attack.

Several times I went into battle without the ability to use magic because I forgot to re-equip it after getting into battle. I wish those settings would save even when removing your summons but eventually you’ll just be reminded to check. You can level up your weapon by getting a bunch of items and finding a magazine to learn the recipe from but I never ended up getting the hang of that. So I beat the game with the default weapons. That meant attacking was basically useless for the whole game so I relied exclusively on magic and summons.

There’s also a whole card game built into Final Fantasy and this is how you learn a lot of strong magics. I probably should have played the game much more but in the end that’s why I had to grind hard on an island to get magic. I lost my first card game and never ended up going back into it. You later gain the ability to turn opposing monsters into cards but I never got to try that.

Then the cherry on top is that the enemies scale with you but they do so at a higher rate. So if you are level 5 then your opponent will be level 5. You will have the advantage though because you started out stronger. However, if you are level 20 and your opponent is level 20, now they have the advantage because they gain stats much quicker than you do. So there’s a lot to consider here and getting too strong can be an issue. Apparently they stop scaling around level 60 so you could eventually just power level to a point where they can’t stop you. The summon abilities are what you are really supposed to lean on though.

It goes against my usual strategies but I adapted. You can see how the game is really complicated and in depth with all of these mechanics though. It makes for a pretty intense experience. I’m not in fan of some of the mechanics to be honest. I like my RPG experience to be a bit simpler. In general I feel like going too far into the weeds can make a game feel a bit more like homework than just letting you have a blast. The game is still great overall and I had my fun but the gameplay does lag a bit behind the others.

The remastered version does have two good quality of life features though like being able to turn off random encounters as well as speeding up the game 2X. Certainly great when you have to run around the world looking for a spell or the next destination. There is also an option to just make the game much easier by multiplying your attacks but I didn’t use that one since it is going a step too far. Without the double speed though, the gameplay might have felt a bit tedious at times with how long the combat animations are.

When it comes to the graphics, the Final Fantasy games never disappoint. This one certainly doesn’t either with a lot of great effects the whole time and attention to detail. It was always a real treat to see the fully animated cutscenes that would come up from time to time as the game flexed its CG. The soundtrack is also pretty good. Perhaps not quite as noteworthy as some of its rivals but I liked the final boss theme and there was also a really good tension theme. That one had a whole lot of replay value to it.

In terms of value, the story will take you around 30 hours. There is also a ton of other things to do in the game like beating all of the card fighters so by the end you’re probably looking more at 50 hours or so. If you go too far then you won’t be able to tackle the side content so you should always have a backup save at the ready. There are plenty of areas to get soft locked. Either way you’re getting a ton of value here, especially since you can sometimes get the game for under $10 when it is on sale.

Overall, I would definitely recommend picking this game up. You should really take time to actually learn the gameplay style though. You can cruise through a lot of the game like I did by playing it normally but then when you get stuck it will hurt a lot more than if you had already gotten the fundamentals down. I really had to change my whole approach near the end and even then I barely won. Had I been defeated by the final boss’ last phase that would have been a real setback. You always do expect that the game will end with a bang though and it did not disappoint. I look forward to seeing how Final Fantasy IX goes.

Overall 8/10

Sword Art Online Progressive: Barcarolle of Froth Review

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Sword Art Online is one of the most frustrating franchises of all time. This is because the highs and lows are so drastic. You’ll go from watching one of the greatest movies of all time to watching a terrible season of the anime. You’ll play an amazing video game and then read a below average manga. Unfortunately this one is in that side of the camp. I wanted to enjoy it but unfortunately it was clear that this story wasn’t exactly focused on the plot.

This story takes place during the early days of climbing to the top of Aincrad. Kirito and Asuna are still stuck inside the death game that is known as Sword Art Online. The only way to escape is to clear the 100 floors and right now they aren’t even halfway to floor 10. Yeah it’s going to be a long journey and so they try to have fun while they can. They go on adventures ranging from making a boat to visiting an elf friend of theirs. Will they be able to keep their sanity in such a strange situation?

Now if I’m being extremely generous, you could say that a lot of the crazy shenanigans here is because that is how they are coping with this situation. Acting extra silly helps them take their minds off of the danger. That said, even I’m not quite this generous. It’s clear that the series is having fun using fanservice as a tool to move things around all the time. The fanservice within this series is constant and it really does drag the series down quite a bit.

I haven’t seen a series be this obnoxious about it since Fairy Tail. There is a certain amount that you can maybe overlook here and there but when it is this frequent and intense, well there is no escape at that point. There isn’t a single chapter without a little of that and it seems to be the main default for the title when it comes to humor. It’s a shame because there are so many ways to throw in good jokes without relying on fanservice.

Additionally, the series should have an advantage here in that the Kirito and Asuna romance is one of the few really good ones among any anime/manga. So this is really about building chemistry and that’s what the title should have focused on. Not constant excuses for getting to the beach and swimming. At least Kirito tends to stay strong and doesn’t panic as much as Asuna but he’s also portrayed as lightly taking advantage of the situation at times which is not what you’d expect from the hero.

As a result the plot takes a back seat here. It’s not like the story is all that complicated anyway though. It’s really about taking on side quests. The longest one is when the heroes make it back to the elf kingdom and have to help them stop some invaders. It’s not the biggest challenge that Kirito has ever faced but he wants a perfect victory without any NPCs hurt in the process. So he convinces the ruler to help out and then they claim a nice victory. The climax is fairly quick here. There was also a quick action piece for the side mission to build a bridge.

The artwork is pretty solid so the action scenes look really good. Unfortunately the fact that the art is really good also means that the fanservice is worse. It’s a true double edged sword when you really think about it. The pages are easy to read and so you’ll blast through this one quickly. It’s only two volumes long after all so this is very close to actually being a oneshot adventure. This is probably why I had even forgotten that Sword Art Online got so many different manga titles for a while there.

While Kirito is the one who tends to steal the show the whole time, Asuna does well on her own as well. I was glad the manga didn’t overdo it with showing her to be a newbie because by this point she should be experienced enough not to be making the day 1 blunders. Kirito naturally still has more experience all around which makes sense but it’s not like she’s lagging behind. Her combat skills are also really on point here. Her character tends to suffer for most of the fanservice moments but outside of those she is a quality character all around.

There isn’t time for much of the supporting cast to appear otherwise. You still have the two factions fighting each other to clear the floors quickest but Kirito always runs in to steal the last hit bonus anyway. Shows you just how much of a pro Kirito is. Argo is fun enough as she keeps trolling everyone by withholding information. I like that Kirito is able to hold his own with her by this point since he knows how she operates. They have a fun dynamic going on here. I’d even say it’s a great friendship dynamic.

Part of why the supporting characters can’t do much is also because the series just doesn’t have a very strong cast of them by this point. The franchise wouldn’t get better at that for quite a while but it’s fine because Kirito and Asuna are all you really need to lead the adventure. They have a good dynamic as well and I would be able to just appreciate the fun vibes of it. Honestly if you take out the fanservice then you have a very good story here. Of course a what if scenario doesn’t help the actual product. It’s a key example of how just one area can really sink a story.

Overall, I would say to skip this one. The Progressive series is meant to be an ultra extended look at the first arc which means that you can really identify more with the characters. At the same time, that means you can easily skip chunks of it like this one without really missing anything. Technically this could be treated like filler so it’s worth checking out if the story is good. Since it’s not, you’ll want to keep going on your way. The drastic changes in quality for the franchise really continues here. That’s just how it goes sometimes though.

Overall 3/10

100 Meters Review

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It’s time for a big track and field movie. The 100 meter dash is not something that I’ve ever really followed but it does make sense that it would be a really intense event. You’re putting everything you’ve got into an incredibly short race. So if anything goes wrong, you can’t recover from it. You’re also putting your legs under a lot of strain with the constant wear and tear through training. It’s a pretty good movie that captures the intensity.

The movie’s main character is Togashi although it does well in establishing a lot of the supporting characters to get their own moments. Togashi has always been particularly gifted in running fast and so he would naturally enter track events. He was known around the school for being quite good and figured that would be his life’s career. Another kid shows up who likes running but doesn’t seem to have the talent for it, Komiya. Togashi works on helping this kid out but as quickly as he appeared, Komiya had to move out and vanished. Many years later, Togashi is still working on being the world’s best when he runs into Komiya again.

There are several big time jumps like this during the movie and each one has the character designs change a bit. It’s ambitious and I definitely think the film did a good job here. The only issue is does run into at times is that the animation can make it easy to mix up the characters at times. They can start to blend together. While the animation can look pretty solid with some of the special effects when running, I would say that on the whole it’s more on the decent side. Under the average weekly anime but above what you’re mainly going to see in US theaters.

This is a movie where the focus is going to be more on the story and themes. Both of those are areas where the movie does a great job so there is no real reason to worry here. Togashi is a great example of someone who really loves his hobby but then the competition starts to wear down on him. He goes through a slump but ultimately finds his passion for the sport again. I think that happens to most people when they finally manage to make it to the top level of competition. It’s just such a different animal at that stage.

Now, the film does run the risk of being a little repetitive at times with Togashi seeming to always need another speech to really get his act together. The film is spanning multiple years so in universe it makes a lot of sense but while watching you may be shaking your head at Togashi a bit by the end. Ultimately he’s a good guy though and is always trying to push the other characters forward. Togashi wants to be the best by challenging himself to improve as opposed to pushing anyone lower.

Komiya had a tough hand in life as he grew up in a tough environment and running didn’t come easily to him. When he really pushed himself he could do well but then he had to deal with injuries. It’s easy to see why anyone would start to put some distance from the sport after that. He ended up with a lot of anxiety but is able to push past it. A good example of this is when he is listening to Zaitsu’s advice at the beginning but in the second scene he just ends up cutting the guy off. Komiya was able to find his own ideals to race with, even if they falter by the end.

It’s solid character development because everyone is always going to have their own approaches and speeches to give you. There’s a time to hear them out but then there’s also a time to just go your own way and never look back. Komiya was able to become one of the greatest racers in the world through his own skills. That’s not easy.

Then you have Zaitsu and Kaido who are two characters who became immense racers on their own merits as well. It was pretty nice seeing each of them get some respect here with both winning at least one pivotal race. Each one also sacrificed a lot to the sport which is another theme in the movie. You are really giving your whole life for those 100 meters. At the end of the day you have to ask if the rewards are worth it. Does owning a bunch of trophies equate to a lot of happiness? Or will having records in your name be something that always keeps you happy? It’s just hard to say and by the time you think about it, your life has been used up a lot.

Togashi keeps it the simplest from all the racers. He just enjoys running and he’ll keep doing it for as long as he can. That’s really all that anyone can do and you have to make your peace with it. It’s a little late to be having regrets by the time it’s all over. Whatever you do with your life, it’s constantly moving forward. So you have to move along with it.

I think the movie pushed the 100 meter dash as far as it could. The short length of the race does limit how much drama you can build into the actual race but the film made sure to build up the angles around it. If the race was longer I would have liked to have crammed in all the racers in one race to end the film off. Logically would that be a little convenient? Yeah definitely but you can suspend a little disbelief for a climactic showdown like that. Of course a classic 1 v 1 is also a good way to end things so you’ll get no real issues there from me.

This is a film that’s just very strong all around. We get a number of good supporting characters and even by the end we’re still meeting new runners who are incredibly fast. It shows that new racers will always come in to replace the old ones and that the sport is in a healthy place. It’s a very uplifting kind of movie that you can recommend to anyone who has even a bit of a competitive spirit within them.

Overall, The film cops out at the ending on who the world’s greatest is but I like to think it was Togashi. To me that makes sense with the ending but it’s ultimately up to your interpretation. Either way I would recommend checking this film out. It’s a good adventure filled with a lot of drama and intensity. It all goes by pretty quickly and that’s considering that it had different false climaxes. You may think the film is about to end and then it jumps into the future again. You could easily build off of this into more spinoffs and sequels as well.

Overall 7/10

The Sword in the Stone Review

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The Sword in the Stone is a whole lot different than I would have expected it to be. I was thinking it would be a classic King Arthur story but that’s not really the focus at all. In fact that’s barely relevant for the whole adventure. It’s a fun enough story but I can see why this one never got quite as popular as some of the other big animated adventures.

The story begins by explaining that England has entered the dark ages thanks to its ruler dying without anyone to take the throne. The strong bully the weak and there is nobody to stop this chaos. What about Merlin? We’ll get to that. The story centers around a kid named Arthur who is mainly tolerated by the people around him but he’s seen as weak and ineffectual. His older foster brother Kay tends to treat him more like a butler and that’s been the dynamic for a long time. Well, one day Arthur bumps into Merlin who had predicted their encounter. He believes Arthur to be the chosen future king and so he begins to train him. But can Merlin train Arthur enough to win the grand tournament to become King of the land?

Merlin is probably the biggest problem in the film. Now to be clear, he can be an amusing character. Merlin is one of those guys who always has the answers and he also has a good amount of magical strength. So that would be handy here right? Well, he’s not the most patient fellow and doesn’t really listen. Why wasn’t he helping people out during these literal dark ages? Well, he was probably too lazy. We see that this mage knows about the future and routinely time travels. He can basically do anything.

Stopping crime would have been easy but instead he just waits on his prophecies. He probably should already know that Arthur becomes King by time travelling but acts like he doesn’t do for sure and is just following destiny. Okay, at least he will stick with this right? No, he blows up at Arthur near the end and runs off to a beach somewhere in the future. That was the worst moment for Merlin because he ditched Arthur when it counted. The misunderstanding was also 100% on Merlin.

Arthur was just happy because he finally got his old job back as Kay’s attendant. Sure, it’s not glamourous but after consistently getting a lot of losses, it is easy to see why Arthur was happy. I’m sure he would have kept on training if Merlin just talked to him but the guy immediately goes nuclear about how he won’t train Arthur anymore. Merlin literally skips out on the whole climax and arrives after it. So much for being a mentor that Arthur could count on.

Now, Merlin does get a cool fight with his arch nemesis Madam Mim. We get to see more of his abilities and creativeness there. It’s a fun fight and so he is not weak by any means. That said, we already knew this right? Merlin has never been a weak fighter. He has abilities but just doesn’t use them in the day to day which is the problem.

As for Madam Mim, she was mainly fun for the fights. I would say in a way Ector and Kay were the real antagonists here since they kept getting in Arthur’s way. I give the film credit for not making Kay super over the top evil though. He’s not the smartest guy and is certainly rude but he doesn’t go out of his way to consistently bully Arthur the way you would see from other characters in a similar role. Ector’s screentime isn’t as much as you would expect but he is fun in the role of being a thorn in Arthur’s side.

As the main character Arthur is okay but much too weak willed and submissive for my liking. Often times in a story like this, the only way for a situation to get better is to improve it yourself. I wanted to see Arthur actually fighting back against his destiny to make things better. Sure he pulls the sword and everything but it’s still in a fairly mild mannered way. It’s not unrealistic but I just wanted my confident King Arthur from the legends. I dare say that would have made for a more impactful film.

Midway through the film we get a whole montage of training moments where Arthur is turned into different animals. This even leads to an animal getting a crush on him which was a bizarre plotline. Arthur wasn’t exactly given any backup here and was left to fend for himself. It didn’t feel like this was really necessary to the film and all the animal stuff was almost like the movie was buying time. There wasn’t a ton of story here if you drill down into it.

The animation has held up really well over time though. I thought it looked really smooth and colorful the whole time. Meanwhile the soundtrack wasn’t bad. It’s a classic Disney film so you can expect quite a few songs. I don’t think any of them ever became the next big thing but the opening is not bad. It’s one of those songs that is used as exposition the whole time which is an art form that has mostly been lost nowadays. I tend to like story songs like this but only when used for that purpose. I wouldn’t listen to a song like that at just any point.

Overall, The Sword in the Stone is a fun movie. I had a good time while watching it but you feel a lot of missed opportunities the whole time. I don’t agree with the decision to go with a young King Arthur. How well can a kid really rule the kingdom? Have him be a humble teenager/young adult like Link of Hyrule or something and he gradually gets ready to be the king. You could still follow similar story beats but Arthur would be able to have more agency. He wouldn’t have to be quite so timid and you could even cut the animal transformations. If not, at least avoid the romance and maybe give more justification for why we needed these training segments. Outside of showing off animation, the in-universe reason for doing this was shaky at best. I didn’t feel like Arthur learned a whole lot here that couldn’t have been taught traditionally.

Overall 6/10

Cosmic Monsters Review

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There’s always something comforting about watching an old creature feature film. The fun dialogue, the quick moving plot, it’s all just good stuff. Sometimes you barely even need the creatures around because the vibes are just good. This is an example of such a film that is very simple. I would go as far as to say it’s a super basic movie but it knows its objectives and clears them. This is a fun popcorn film you can check out at any time. The movie never drags on and you get a fun climax. I don’t really have any issues with this one even if I may have a hard time telling it apart from 5 others in a few years.

The film starts with some scientists trying to run a bunch of experiments with magnetic fields but they haven’t had any luck in a long while. The government has about had it with them and they have the gall to request more funds. These scientists are given one last chance but in the meantime hey will have to work with a new computer professional, Michele. These guys are not happy about this, they all grumble a whole lot about how a lady couldn’t possibly understand the work. They say she’ll be tough to work with and what have you. They whine so much that the government agent seems pretty happy about it and leaves them to the work. What they don’t realize is that these experiments may have real dangerous consequences.

I will say that I was glad Michele stood up to them right away. Not like it was too hard to be honest but she showed that she had the skills to keep up with them and they get on board quickly. Of course the film couldn’t resist the urge to immediately have some flirting thrown in there as well with Dr. Graham. It would have been perfect if that wasn’t a part of the dynamic at all so that Michele would have really just been one of the team ready to change the world with science.

Now at first you may think that Dr. Laird is just one of those classic mad scientists who slowly starts to get real extreme…and by the end you’ll still be thinking that. He’s not exactly subtle but that makes for a fun character type. The mad scientist has always been a really interesting character. You’re certainly not rooting for him but you can really appreciate the dedication to his craft. He really did come close to some amazing breakthroughs and actually got a few, just unintended from what he was after.

Dr. Graham is more your average main character. A good scientist who isn’t really extreme. He stops when things get too dangerous and knows his limits. Nothing wrong with that but it also means he won’t be a very memorable character. The cast is fairly small though so that helps his odds. You have the government who decides that this tech could be incredibly handy in combat but there’s mostly just the one or two point persons.

In a way the creature stuff almost seems like it’s getting in the way of the interesting consequences of these new innovations. Using magnetic fields in a way where you can cause gold to be brittle would naturally be really handy in wars or normal fights. You could have actually had some enemy officers trying to start a fight like the government expected. Instead, it’s aliens time! It’s not quite as exciting as you might expect though.

First off, it starts with a little girl who has no real survival instincts. Even after her mother warns her not to do this, she goes deep into the forest and talks to strangers. One of them is the mysterious man who seems to be interested in the experiments. This guy seems rather odd but the kid doesn’t notice. As the film goes on, we find out a little more about him. The thing is, this guy is very hesitant to act and do anything even when the stakes are high so you wonder what he was even going to do. If the main characters didn’t have a long talk with him, I guess he would have just silently left and maybe gotten some big weapons involved?

There is even a scene where we find out that the world might have to choose between one life (The crazy scientist trying to destroy the world) and the world itself. The alien admits that it would be a hard decision for him as he goes on about the importance of life and all. So maybe he is just an ultra pacifist to the extreme but the whole thing was not a good look for him. He talks as if humanity is so far beneath his people but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps scientifically but that would be it.

Also we do get a random mass murderer who shows up thanks to the radiation messing with him. He’s good for a few jump scares initially but there’s not much point to this except to try and get the characters closer to figuring out what is going on. Amidst all this, we have giant insects! Yes the gravitational fields also affect them along with radiation and such. I don’t really get why they didn’t just say the scientists were messing with radiation, would be a simpler way to get to the same end point. It’s all sci-fi though so ultimately I’m on board with it either way.

There isn’t a whole lot of time for the giant insects though as the film is basically over by then. It’s one of those sci-fi films that ends extremely quick. It’s going, you’re in the big climax and then it just suddenly ends. It’s always impressive when films do that because even as the viewer you’re just left shocked. I feel like it happens the most with sci-fi films too although that may just be since I’ve seen quite a few of those.

Overall, Cosmic Monsters is one of those films that goes by real fast. It’s a film that is very distracted though. There are just so many plots going on here and a lot of them barely have anything to do with each other until they collect at the end. I also think there shouldn’t have been a big messy romance here. Even the first guy is initially surprised when Michele is moving on but then basically congratulates the next man up. Not exactly broken up about this eh? He was being rather presumptuous either way. The film’s title may leave you disappointed if you are expecting a lot of cosmic monsters though. Go into this expecting a chaotic sci-fi film and trust me you will have a whole lot more fun! How can you go wrong with giant insects, a mad scientist, and aliens all in the same film?

Overall 7/10