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Creature with the Atom Brain Review

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It’s time to look at a film that gets pretty emotional for a lot of characters because the body count is quite high. Characters are going down left and right before the heroes find a way to stop these guys. The Creature with the Atom Brain is a film that’s written pretty well and makes for a compelling movie. It’s one of those films you just don’t see nowadays. I say that a lot for these older films but that’s because it’s simply the case. You just don’t have writing like this anymore which is always a tragedy. The film is a lot of fun from start to finish.

The film starts with one guy swearing revenge on the gang that didn’t help him out when the going got tough. He gets a scientist over and they quickly use this sci-fi thunder formula to reanimate the dead. These bodies now have super strength and since they feel no pain they are bullet proof as well. They aim to take down all of these guys one by one until none remain. Pretty good plan eh? Things hit a snag when Chet shows up and figures out the plot. It’s hard to get people to believe him at first, but he does a good job of explaining and it’s hard to deny the facts after a while. Well, the cops and the army are ready now but can they really stop the zombies?

I always feel like the fighters are slow on the uptake here though. We’ve established that these guys are dead so why even bother shooting them in the chest? Realistically you should be aiming for the legs so they can’t stand well. Even if they can’t feel pain it’s not like they can block out the injuries entirely so if you ask me that would do a lot of good very quickly. Also, engaging in hand to hand with them seems like a bad idea as well. The climax is fun as we actually get a fairly big action scene but they didn’t play the matchup very well at all.

There’s also a higher body count than expected. The entire gang gets wasted and then you also have a ton of innocents taken out. The villains blow up trains, planes, and whole factories. It’s crazy how far it goes before the heroes are able to track them down. In fairness, there’s not much you can do once they’re right next to you with the bomb. People were always slow to figure out they were fake though. I guess they somehow don’t see that the head has been stitched back together? The only thing I can think of is that it’s for the viewer’s benefit and in the actual movie you can’t see any kind of stitching. Otherwise that would make the characters look really bad. In that case I can blame them a little less although the robotic movements + voice would still be a giveaway if you ask me. Hey, I can only cut them so much slack!

Chet makes for a pretty solid main character. He has a lot of good plans and does think things through more than most of the other characters. The only part of his character that doesn’t age well is how he wants to keep the family in the dark the whole time. Even when his wife tries to get in on the conversation he basically tells her to go away. She’s not handled particularly well in the film as we get a random scene where she chokes on a martini. Not sure how that helps anything. I think the writers were struggling with how to write a home scene at this point but not a whole lot of time is spent there anyway. For the most part Chet is always on the case with his partner.

It’s also nice to see everyone teaming up here. There’s no bickering or characters trying to one up each other. The community is in trouble so they all band together and get ready to face off against the villains. That’s exactly how this should go down so it ends up working quite well if you ask me. Part of the fun of the film is how things are always happening. There is quite a lot of action here as you might have guessed. Nobody is really safe and the film adds some tension when the villain breaks into Chet’s house as well.

While the main villain is pretty solid, the scientist is definitely very wishy washy. The guy’s creations have already murdered countless people and now he’s starting to want to back out of this? It’s far too late for this and he should have known that it wasn’t going to end well. Look, if you are going to betray the evil organization at least do so when you are holding the controls. The guy had the power over the zombies so he literally could have had them grab the other villain first and then surrender to the heroes. The problem is that the scientist still wanted to escape so he was probably hoping the other guy would have some ideas. Well, you can’t have it both ways and ultimately that’s why he was doomed from the start.

Overall, The Creature with the Atom Brain is a pretty interesting movie. Zombies can definitely be tricky to deal with, especially when the town was not ready for them in the slightest. It just goes to show that you’ve always got to expect the unexpected. Only by doing this can you really be prepared for the big villains that are to come. I’d be down with a sequel to this. So, if you are in the mood for a solid thriller with some sci-fi elements then this is definitely a movie that I would recommend checking out. While you may be hard pressed to remember any names by the end, the characters themselves are very solid. There is even a bit of a mystery factor here as the heroes try to figure out who is behind this.

Overall 7/10

Soapdish Review

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It’s time for a movie about a soap opera that ends up becoming a bit of a soap opera itself in real life. You can definitely see how there would be some irony in that. It’s an interesting angle but with all of these plot twists things don’t always work out pretty well. The romance is also particularly weak here which definitely doesn’t help matters. The best character is definitely the executive who is here to make sure that things don’t go wrong. He puts the pressure on quite a bit even if he’s completely out of the loop on things. I also feel like one of the villains got off rather easy. Still a happy ending for the cast I suppose.

The movie starts by introducing us to Celeste winning yet another award. She’s been with her show for many years at this point and has won a number of awards. The show is her very life and she could never take herself away from it. That being said, the rest of the actors and actresses in the show really don’t like her. In particular one girl named Montana wants to especially get rid of Celeste. She gets the director -David to agree to find a way to get her off the show. Unfortunately every tactic they try backfires. Finally they have an idea. They’ll bring in one of her old flings -Jeffrey back into the stage. Jeffrey’s certainly got an axe to grind with Celeste so things could get tricky. Meanwhile Celeste’s niece Lori shows up and wants to be in the show. She scores a role as an extra but aims to continue to rise higher and higher.

There’s definitely quite a lot of drama here. All of the characters have their own agendas and people have to take sides. Because of that in some ways it works out well for Celeste since they can’t just get rid of her. She has one friend in her writer Rose and that’s a good friend to have. Celeste doesn’t do much to show us why we should root for her though. She is a lot to handle on set and tends to be mean to everyone. She even comes close to getting her costume designer fired for no real reason. It’s things like this that really don’t help her case with the other characters. They say she’s spoiled and she really does fit that description. They certainly aren’t wrong and that’s pretty tragic in its own way. So later on when she has valid concerns it’s hard for the other characters to really help out.

Meanwhile Montana is definitely a pretty intense villain. Certainly a delusional one though who would have actually been in a pretty good position if she wasn’t so heavy handed. Her manipulating David was only going to work for so long before he grew tired of the game or the execs stepped in. Her last attempt was definitely a pretty bold one though that could have actually had a shot to work. I wonder what the real script was though. Meanwhile David looks downright terrible throughout the movie. The guy was manipulated with extreme ease throughout so it’s hard to have any real respect for the guy. His motivations are terrible. He may be quick with his wit but that’s about it.

Then you have Lori who I have to say was a little unreasonable at times. I thought that the same got to her head rather quickly. Does she really think the studio would go for her, someone who’s only been on the show for a few days vs someone who’s been there for over 20 years or a guy that just had a big comeback? She’s certainly setting herself up for disappointment if you ask me. She is right that Celeste should have mentioned the plot twist a lot sooner though. Waiting as long as she did almost caused irrevocable damage to the other characters.

Then you have Jeffrey who wants his shot at revenge against Celeste. The guy has pretty good reason for it since she intentionally sabotaged his career. When we find out the reasoning later on that doesn’t really help matters either. If anything it shows that Celeste just made the easy choice even if it meant ruining lives. Not exactly the kind of main character you were hoping to see right? If anything Jeffrey does a pretty good job for the most part although his constant retakes with Celeste was definitely crossing the line there. That’s a real petty way to try and get revenge so her kneeing him was well justified. As for Rose, she was pretty dependable. At the end of the day she did actually stick with Celeste throughout all of this so that was good of her. It makes a difference to at least have one ally at the ready.

Still, the movie definitely won’t bore you or anything. It’s a fairly interesting story with a lot going on. You can’t help but feel like it could have been even better if it tried a little harder though. Focus a little less on the romance and more on the inter office politics and you could have a winner here. I’d like to see the execs more because those guys are pretty good at riding the wave. The main exec kept overriding David on the decisions which worked really well since the studio was crashing before he stepped in.

Overall, Soapdish definitely gets very dramatic and hits a lot of the usual notes you would expect in a soap opera. The final big twist is like something out of a parody with how crazy it is. If you’re up for a lot of drama then this is definitely a film you’ll want to check out. That said, a drama is only as good as its romance and the romance here is really not good. It’s still hard to see why these two would come back together. There’s just too much deception for that so the happy ending may not last for too long. It does show that you gotta be careful in show business though. Can’t really trust anyone. Then again, that applies to any workplace really.

Overall 4/10

All of Me Review

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It’s time for an interesting body possession story. Think of it as something like Freaky Friday only this time the soul is going to a body that’s already filled which leads to its own share of troubles for the main character. The film does its best to not make him all that sympathetic though so unfortunately we’re left in a trick place. Unfortunately the film has too many iffy moments preventing this film from reaching its full potential as a solid comedy film. Always a shame when you see the potential right there.

The movie starts off with Roger being tired of being put in charge of small legal affairs that he feels aren’t particularly important. He asks his boss for a real assignment this time and is placed in charge of the Edwina estate. She is a rich lady who’s about to die and then the company gets the land. She is now trying to change her will so she gives the entire fortune to a girl who is related to a worker there. The reasoning is Edwina has found a guy who can transport her soul to this other person. Roger thinks this is all hooey and lets her know this which almost backfires but the boss doesn’t sweat it. The issue though is when Edwina dies her soul gets thrown into Roger by mistake. Now they each own half of his body. Can the two of them get along long enough to find their way back to the mystic to fix this? In the meanwhile that girl Terry will now be rich and that idea doesn’t sound bad to her.

So there’s a whole lot you can do with this concept. The idea of body hopping is definitely nothing new but since the situations are endless that gives you a lot of creativity. The two of them not getting along just adds to the dynamic. The film does deliver some fun scenes of course and both characters are reasonable for that purpose. Where things get tricky is with Roger who definitely doesn’t seem like a reliable guy. He is very quick to allow Terry to seduce him and that’s where things get dicey. She doesn’t just ensnare him once but even twice. If not for Edwina he would have really been doomed at times. Fortunately the mystic saved Roger the second time. It was a little convenient how the guy just appeared but I certainly won’t complain about that. These romance scenes are definitely no good though and really hurt Roger as a character.

Then of course you have the fact that he was willing to manipulate the court and help out someone he knows was guilty. It’s part of why I would never really want to be a lawyer. The possibility that you have to defend someone that you know is guilty doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. The boss was definitely not a good character and it’s a shame because he did have one good scene early on. When Roger blows up at Edwina and the boss dashes him to the back you expect Roger to be canned because of what Edwina was saying. No, the boss didn’t care in the slightest which is something I wasn’t expecting. Now that was a good humor scene. The film certainly has others as well so make no mistake, it has its moments. Some don’t land though like the whole zipper thing which was just downright painful to consider rather than being humorous.

So this is a film that would have benefited from a better main character or at least less of the affairs going on. Those scenes definitely don’t add anything to the story and just serve as padding for the film. Cut them out and not much changes at all. I dare say that the characters also should have ended things with Terry on their first attack attempt. They really looked sloppy there. The climax is still solid though as we get a fun chase scene. It was also fun seeing the characters stroll up to her mansion only to be greeted with a gun. Terry was certainly prepared, you have to give her that.

As a main villain Terry is definitely intense. She certainly played her part relatively well although there are definitely ways she could have played this a bit better. Her final plan was good enough though where you feel like it was a solid attempt. She was very close to getting away with the whole thing. Pretty easy for earning 23 million in one shot eh? Roger also has a friend named Tyrone who is probably the most dependable character in the film. He may not be able to help out much with the water in the climax but fortunately things worked out okay. He had some of the funnier scenes like giving the play by play during the climax. He had a lot of fun with the role.

As for Edwina, well it’s clear to see why she doesn’t have any friends. She’s certainly not a particularly nice person. Her backstory is fairly tragic though since she’s apparently been sickly her whole life. In a way that’s why she’s thrilled for everything to be all over. If the spell had worked out right away she would have been one very happy camper. That said, she loses a lot of her sympathy points as she actively sabotages Roger the whole time. I don’t blame her stepping in during the scenes with Terry or at the court house, but in general she talks a whole lot even when it’s obvious that Roger will get in trouble. By the same token, Roger also keeps forgetting that he can think out his responses instead of saying them which wouldn’t be quite as crazy. That’s why they’re a perfect pair here. They keep on making mistakes together as a team.

Overall, All of Me is a film that has an interesting set up but the execution isn’t quite up to task with helping out the plot. The movie will be good for some laughs but ultimately just can’t get past the whole Terry plot. It’s also a shame because Terry is a great name so I’d rather it doesn’t get associated with the main villain here. If Roger was a little stronger mentally to resist her influences then that would have helped the film out more. I also think the film could have done more with Roger falling asleep so Edwina takes over the body and runs around making a big mess. There’s a lot you can do with that. Finally, we do get another court scene here which is nice although you’d think Edwina would be able to act a little naturally than she did. I’d recommend checking out a different comedy like Christmas With the Kranks, the execution there is stronger.

Overall 4/10

Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono Review

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It’s time to look at a one shot that recently came out from the Promised Neverland author. In theory if it does well enough then this will get picked up for a whole series. I can already see the kind of vibe they’re going for so this would be something like Neuro or Hell Girl. Based on how the first chapter goes I’m sure we’ll have quite a few tragedies occurring here on the regular before we transition into the more antagonistic spirits. I can’t say that it grabbed me though. This isn’t a series I’d be particularly interested in but due to the anthology format it is going for some volumes would likely be better than others.

The story here is about a boy named Sota who has been rather depressed as of late. His next door neighbors are always moving out every few months because of a ghost that supposedly resides there. One day a suspicious guy named Saburo shows up while Sota’s mother is out. He says he is a photographer and forces Sota to accompany him to the haunted apartment. He then has Sota give him the full history of the place which is basically that a lady used to live there until she committed suicide. Sota asks why he’s needed anyway and that’s when the ghost shows up. It is the lady and for some reason she is after Sota.

This is just a one shot so I feel like there’s no such things as spoilers. Either you read it or you didn’t. So if you haven’t then skip the next few paragraphs or just go and read it before reading the review. Not much point in reviewing a one shot but skipping the plot right? So here’s the plot twist. Sota tried committing suicide so the lady stopped him but ended up slipping due to the rain and fell out of her apartment. Sota then kept quiet and let everyone believe she simply tripped. The ghost was just the lady saying she didn’t blame him so Saburo took a picture and she moved on. See, Saburo is a spirit photographer so he takes pictures of the spirits when they get to finish their business. He makes it a point to say that he’s not an exorcist so he doesn’t handle evil spirits or anything like that. I think this already implies that they will appear soon. I have a few problems with the story though.

The first is rather superficial but I feel like Saburo will need some work before he becomes the main character here. Granted, if this is like Hell Girl then he will show up in every story but won’t really be the main character. Still, the dynamic doesn’t work as well. He is portrayed as very shady and he did completely force the kid to go to the haunted hallway under the implied threat of violence. This is going to be our main character? The guy’s design and actions scream villain. You can certainly have a character like this to subvert expectations but I really don’t see him working well as the lead. Certainly he has less charisma than almost any other lead I’ve seen. Seriously, read chapter 1 of almost any other manga and I bet they’re a better character. So he needs work.

Next, the whole anthology string of tragedies isn’t going to work for me either. So we’re already starting with a indirect murder/suicide attempt? The whole thing’s pretty tragic for the lady who was just trying to help out. It doesn’t do wonders for Sota. He’s just a kid of course and I expect he would never appear again but this just isn’t a strong first chapter. Aside from being tragic there just isn’t much to this. There’s no big incentive to keep on watching because the premise itself just isn’t very interesting. What helps Hell Girl out a bit is that she acts as the punisher and sees that vengeance is carried out. Now, that’s a series that I doubt would get high marks if I reviewed it because of how dark things get, but at least it’s an interesting angle. Then Neuro quickly went full on action which was exciting at least.

There’s no way to guess how this one would progress so I can only go off the pilot. Suffice it to say, this is not a pilot that would really get me interested. There’s not a whole lot more to say beyond that. I wouldn’t say the art is particularly good but it’s basically the same as the Promised Neverland so if you liked the art there then you should be good here. It works well enough for the horror atmosphere I suppose but it doesn’t flow as smoothly as a lot of the other titles on the block. I imagine the author will continue to improve as the series goes on though.

Overall, We’ll see if this ends up becoming a series. I’m not really pulling for it, but if it happens it happens. It’s not like it’ll be a bad thing if it does, but I’m hoping for more action type titles. A lot of the other recent jump titles look more interesting so I’d be hoping that those continue to go strongly. Pilots usually end up being quite different than the actual series though so we’ll see how it’s restructured. My personal recommendation to the author would be to change the main character’s design and for the camera stories either go for more of a Yotsuba type of adventure with the spirits or have Saburo take a more active role in the adventures rather than scaring people for kicks. If you start out with smaller cases first that would make sense. Due to the nature of unfinished business though, I imagine a lot of the would turn out rather dark like this.

Overall 5/10

The Comic Review

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It’s time to look at an old film about an actor letting the fame go to his head and falling from grace. This seems to be a pretty popular sub genre to be honest as it happens quite a bit. This one plays out like you would expect although I dare say that Billy’s decline happens even quicker than usual this time. He almost immediately becomes corrupt and starts causing a bunch of chaos. He certainly wasn’t wasting any time. The film may hold your attention for a bit but it does drag on and the fact that there are no likable characters doesn’t help either. It ends up being a bit of a miss as a result.

The movie starts with Billy getting a role as an extra in a film. He decides to take it over though and the execs actually like this so he quickly becomes a star. This leads him to get Mary as his wife from the director but then Billy cheats on her with a bunch of other people. Throughout his career he is shown to have no real self control and even swings at his friends. Mix this in with the fact that he doesn’t like movies which have sound and he has really limited his own options. There just isn’t much left for him by the end and the film starts off with his death so you know that’s going to happen. The real question is how long the film will drag out his demise.

It’s hard to tell what’s sadder here, the fact that you see Billy’s life continuing to go down the tubes and that it’s all completely due to his own decisions, or the fact that he doesn’t even realize this. There’s no mistaking the fact that Billy is sabotaging himself here constantly. He really could have had a great and successful life but chose to throw it away over quick flights of fancy. Or in a more direct way, he chose to lose his morals and cheat on his loyal wife just for a moment of pleasure. He deserves what he gets and that’s part of what also hurts the film.

It’s really hard to follow the adventures of a character who is simply this unlikable. Billy’s just not a good guy, that part is clear as day. He keeps on deflecting this throughout the film but since we know better as the viewer it doesn’t work. I wouldn’t even say it works as comedy because it’s more tragic than anything. The best scenes are probably the old black and white bits about him in his early roles. It’s not really my kind of film to the extent that I feel like I’d be a little bored watching them. I enjoy slapstick personally but I need to hear something. These kinds of films only work with sound if you ask me and a silent film just doesn’t have enough going on in it. The film shows us quite a few of them to eat up screen time though.

Aside from Billy I guess the biggest characters would be Mary and Martin. Mary’s not really a great character either though. None of this excuses Billy cheating on her later. We also don’t want to forget the fact that Mary was cheating with Billy while she was still with the director though. It’s part of why she should have sen this coming. If someone is willing to be a homewrecker with one person, what’s to say he or she won’t just keep on doing it with the next person? The only way a relationship can be established is with trust so if you’re building the whole foundation on a lie then that’s just not going to work. you’re setting yourself up for failure right from the get go.

Finally we have Martin who is probably the only nice guy around. If anything you feel bad for him being stuck with Billy. Billy’s definitely not a nice friend but Martin sticks with him anyway. The film maybe went a little overboard with the special effects for his eye though. It’s an actual part of the film’s story but it doesn’t make it easy for his screen time either. There are other supporting characters here and there like Billy’s son but they don’t do a whole lot. I don’t even think the son had much of a purpose appearing near the end either. I suppose it shows that he got to be a decent guy while Billy is up to his old tricks but wasn’t really needed.

The film really just needed one thing to turn it around, have Billy not be such a bad person. There are a lot of ways they could have still made things not work out for him while keeping him sympathetic. One would have been to play up the fact that he doesn’t like films with sound without making him a cheater. He would keep turning down roles so eventually what would happen is Mary leaves since he isn’t earning any money and the whole industry turns on him. It would portray him as a very selfish guy but one who is at least obeying some kind of internal rules. You could at least buy into it a bit as actors naturally have a lot of pride since it helps them perform well and focus. It would have been a great improvement if you ask me.

Overall, the film goes a little overboard with the main character being unlikable. It’s near impossible to get past cheating as that’ll wreck any character and the film can just be a bit mean spirited. There’s not a whole lot of fun to be had here as for every joke scene you’ll get something tragic. If anything the film would have probably worked better if the whole thing took place after Billy died. You could have him giving commentary the whole time while the characters are running around. I dare say that this would have worked a whole lot better. If you’re up for another film about an actor’s decline then I guess this is a fair bet to check out but otherwise I’d recommend something with a little more energy.

Overall 4/10

Oh, God! Review

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All right, it’s time to look at a comedy film from a while back. The plot is definitely a tricky one since it’s about God showing up and the film’s going to be poking some fun at it. I’d say it’s pretty harmless though and you never feel like the film is trying to be mean spirited about it. It’s not going out of its way to do anything crazy at the very least unlike certain other films that are coming out soon. It’s a pretty enjoyable film I’d say and the movie never really makes any critical mistakes.

The movie starts with an average day in Jerry’s life. He’s trying to make his supermarket the best one in the country and he’s doing rather well with it to be honest. One day things take a turn though when he is contacted by God for an interview. Jerry has not been given a message to spread the word and get people to believe again. God appears to Jerry as an older man who may not be very smart at times but does have all the powers that you would expect. For the purposes of the review we’ll call him George though just because even if that’s how he’s addressed I’d rather keep the word for when it’s about the genuine article. Can Jerry really convince the media that this is happening?

Jerry’s definitely very skeptical at first but who wouldn’t be? As a Christian myself I’d be extremely hard pressed to believe that he would appear and start talking to me out of the blue. Why? Because the Anti Christ will also be showing up soon and it’s already confirmed that he will have all kinds of supernatural abilities and will perform miracles. So, I don’t even know what would convince me. That’s part of the point though, it would have to be something utterly crazy that only God could think of. In the meanwhile if I see someone come back to life or other big things like that I’d first assume it’s the other guy to be honest. When God actually returns we’ll certainly know about it.

Back to the film, Jerry does go on board with this after a miracle or two and really tries his best. I was pleasantly surprised at how eager Jerry was to accomplish the mission. Usually the main character grumbles for what feels like the entire film before being bullied into action. Here Jerry takes quite a few losses but he always tries his best. If anything George appears quite ungrateful at times as you can tell that Jerry was giving this all. He put his career and life on the line to deliver the message. It may not have worked out perfectly but I don’t really see what else he can do.

The film has fun with this as Jerry goes just about everywhere to help out. At most he can just be a little slow on the uptake with the whole changing appearances thing. He probably could have handled that better instead of making himself look bad every time. At least Jerry never gave up though. His family wasn’t quite as supportive at times. The kids were definitely a little more on the annoying side. They should have had his back instead of literally backing off instead. Only Bobbie was there to help even if she wasn’t the best at it. She has good reason to think that he’s making a lot of this up though as Jerry doesn’t always do a good job of explaining his experiences. Bobbie definitely had to go through a lot the whole film so she gets more slack than the other characters.

The pacing is solid and the film just flies through. It feels like we got to accomplish a lot as well which is probably what helps the pacing. I enjoyed the round table discussion when Jerry met with the religious leaders. While one of them definitely ended up being corrupt the others felt fairly reasonable. Although as students of the scripture they should have remembered Matthew 4:7 ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” before giving Jerry the equivalent of a pop quiz. The whole point of faith is that you don’t know all of the answers so there’s no reason why God actually would do such a thing. He could, but that’s not the same thing as saying he would.

At the end of the day with the writing and script being solid, the only thing that could stop you from enjoying this film is if you simply dislike how the movie handles the premise. This certainly isn’t a serious look at what could happen if God were to return like this so the film has a lot of laughs. As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t say it’s mean spirited though and does at least reference some interesting topics. I was fine with the film. My only complaint would be that they went too far in trying to portray God as not being very smart at all. I thought that was overblown, I understand making him appear to be a kind old man who’s very calm about everything. Flat out not being intelligent? You lost me there film.

Jerry asks a lot of questions that the film doesn’t give great answers to. One of them “Is Jesus your son?” is an easy one. Yes he is. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who dies for our sins and was resurrected after 3 days. The film quickly misdirects the answers so that God takes it as a figurative question so as not to offend any other religions, but you can’t have it both ways. Jesus is his one and only son when we’re talking in the literal and of course we all are Children of God when you talk about it in a meta sense. It’s important to make the distinction though so as not to undermine the importance of Jesus himself. I remember a long time ago I met someone who said they believed all religions and that can’t be true inherently because to believe one is not to believe the other. There’s no scenario where you can pick and choose.

As for the classic “Why do bad things happen?” well, that’s the struggle of life. If God solved everything for us then there would be no choice. It’s the same reason why he won’t suddenly show up in a bolt of lightning or anything like that. Anyone can believe in God if given absolute proof which defeats the entire purpose of Faith. You have to be able to believe in him without having any proof. The possibility that he is not real is what makes are faith legitimate. Everyone knows that the Sky is real because we can see it so it would be impossible for us to believe in the Sky. This is really the same concept when you think about it. It’s easy to feel like life is unfair and that some have it easier than others. Sure, to an extent that may be true but everyone faces their own personal trials and tribulations. Some may do a better job of hiding it than others, but I don’t believe it’s possible to go through life with no problems. God never gives you more than you can handle but nobody has a perfect life.

There are always a lot of good debates on that kind of subject and you could go back and forth for hours but that’s why it’s all so interesting. Also, Religion is different than having a personal relationship with God. That’s something the film gets right even though several characters seemingly aren’t able to wrap their heads around it in the movie. It’s very different to know about God vs knowing God intimately. Then there’s the third step of actually taking him into your heart. Put it this way, The Devil fits into the first two sections, he just loses out in the third. Anyone can know about God and there are those who believe in him but choose not to serve him. It’s the third category that really counts.

Finally, the film also talks about God not being comprehendable which is why he takes a human form. That’s something I can buy into. I don’t think it would be possible for a mere human to really be able to understand or see God. It’s why in the Bible people die or go blind if they even get a glimpse of him. He’s a being we can never fully grasp which is why he is God. Of course it’s well within his ability to help us comprehend him and I believe in Heaven he would take a form similar to Jesus or something we can’t yet understand but will as Angels. It’s all about waiting until then.

So I went off on a bit of a side tangent there, but while the film is entertaining I also think it’s good to straighten up some of the topics the movie tackles but doesn’t go into. At the end of the day it’s a film that’s not meant to be used for study so you should never take these things at face value. Do your own due diligence and it’ll pay off quite well. Whether you’re a Christian or not I believe you would be able to find this film entertaining. If you’re bothered by the premise and would rather skip it, there’s nothing wrong with that either. I don’t expect this movie would be for everyone. It does have a court case at the end though which I always tend to enjoy. I doubt the sequels would be quite as good but you never know. Maybe they would be legitimate follow-ups.

Overall 7/10

Icey Review

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It’s time for a look at a beat em up I wasn’t really familiar with. I definitely hadn’t heard of it until the game arrived. Pretty neat cover though and right away you can see the fun sci-fi/anime aesthetic they’re going for. The game also has a lot of breaking the fourth wall moments and has an Undertale kind of vibe. It’s definitely on the short side though as you should beat it in about 2-3 hours but the difficulty helps it from getting much shorter than that. The enemies absolutely don’t mess around in this game.

The game starts with Icey waking up in her tube. Her mission is to destroy Judas since he wiped out the planet a long time ago. It is now a desolate wasteland overrun with monsters. Icey won’t stop until he is destroyed but is this really the right thing to do? Icey has started to lose track of who she is and her true goals. Is she after Judas because it was her idea or is someone manipulating her? The truth seems to fade in and out now to the point where everything is brought into question. The narrator of the world himself offers up suggestions and talks to her quite a bit as well. A common theme in the game is, will you listen to this guy or make your own choices?

I wouldn’t be surprised if this game already has a lot of theory videos out there. There’s definitely a lot to explore within this game and there’s certainly room for a sequel. I didn’t actually go and try out one of the other endings but the game makes it all very accessible. You can use the level select to go back and try something else. There are only two main decisions with regard to the ending as far as I can see but throughout the game you can choose to ignore the narrator and do whatever you want. I did that a lot early on but it would usually backfire as I would just get a few coins or something. It can be worth it just to troll the guy though. Sometimes he would also be right and by disobeying him you would end up going up against a boss that was too powerful or something like that.

As I mentioned, the game is definitely very difficult. Be careful how you answer the opening questions as that determines the difficulty level. Initially I ended up starting the game on hard mode as a result and quickly had to restart so it would be on normal. Even on normal I lost quite a few times. The checkpoints are pretty nearby at least. Grinding isn’t the easiest thing in the world here but it is possible through the level select. I recommend amping up your health and attack power first. Those will come in handy right away and you feel the immediate benefit which is why they’re good picks. They’re attacks you can count on but there are a lot of different attacks you can go for as well so at the end of the day it’s up to you.

There isn’t any hitstun in this game so when you get hit prepare for the opponent to combo you for a little while. Button mashing helps you get up a little faster so I recommend it. Mainly just try to make sure you’re never in between two enemies. You can dash so I recommend using that a lot. It’ll help you evade attacks and even counter strike if your timing is on point. It’s definitely something worth spamming. By the end of the game I did quite a lot of button mashing to activate combos. It has always worked well for me in Marvel vs Capcom and the same was true here.

The graphics are definitely fun. It reminds me of Gunvolt or at least that style although there aren’t sprites in this game. The attacks are pretty flashy and the backgrounds stand out. There’s always something going on in the screen which is good. The whole thing has a lot of detail which is good. As for the soundtrack, that part’s a little more forgettable. I don’t really remember any tunes. I think a little rock could have been a nice touch to the game. I think it would have worked rather well especially with all of the bosses running around. Those guys command respect as it is.

For a sequel I’d like to see Judas either return and try to fight back a little this time or maybe have the narrator try and do something. The guy seems about as shady as they get so he should definitely have a good influence here. A prequel could also work but I almost prefer not knowing how everything went down. Why ruin the mystery when we’re so deep in right? If we never know how this all started it allows for quite a lot of extra possibilities. It also lends itself well to online theories in the meantime.

Overall, Icey is a fun game. It’s definitely going for a unique vibe which is fun. I like a good mystery and the whole plot is fairly shrouded. The gameplay is naturally pretty hype as well. I love a good beat em up and mixing that in with Sci-Fi is a good combo. Ultimately the only thing that holds the game back is the length. It really feels very short. It only lasted as long as it did because I kept dying and even had to restart the game once. Otherwise you would likely beat it even quicker. It’s sort of like a boss rush though so you do get your share of fights in the meantime. If you get the game for a decent price then it’s definitely worth it. Will you take the enemies down or spare them? Only time will tell.

Overall 7/10

Need For Speed Nitro Review

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I’ve really been making great headway on these Need for Speed titles haven’t I? Nitro is the only Need for Speed game that I have on the Wii and it makes for a very different experience. All of the other Need for Speed titles that I’ve played have felt a lot more on the realistic side compared to this one. Maybe at most you could say that Hot Pursuit II was closer to Arcade style but even that one wasn’t to the same extent. This one’s definitely going for that retro feel and it works out quite nicely. While I would have to say that it’s probably the weakest Need for Speed game by default, it does understand the series a lot more than Drift.

You start the game by being introduced to the main campaign. There are 3 cups, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Effectively they are all the same game but just with different difficulty levels. You have to do them in order though. When you enter the Bronze cup you are given around 5-6 cities. Your goal is to earn 100 stars which will let you enter the Grand Prix. Once you win that, you will unlock the Silver Cup so rinse and repeat until you’ve won them all. Not a bad deal right? The star system is very similar to Drift. It means that you don’t necessarily have to win every race but it does help. There is less margin for error here compared to Drift as you do need the majority of the stars in order to qualify. I believe there are 128 stars in each world so you can only miss 28. I recommend not losing.

On a more serious note, this game does introduce a certain amount of RNG within the game that means you can’t always guarantee yourself a victory. Sometimes things will happen that you just can’t control. For example, a new mechanic to this game is the Shield weapon that you can use. What this does is it summons the cops to attack a player of your choice. It’s a pretty powerful attack because there’s not much you can do. They run you off the road or if you’re really unlucky they’ll keep spinning you in a circle so that you can’t reset. It’s a fun way to include the cop presence here since there’s no free roam available. Drift probably should have done something similar although I’d say in just one kind of mode. For the most part I still like my normal racing.

This is the kind of thing that’s good as a side gimmick because of how it’s a change of pace. I don’t know if it would work quite as well if this was happening constantly. As the title suggests, this game also focuses a whole lot on the Nitro mechanic. So you’ve really got to make sure and boost a lot. It’s also crucial for a lot of the bonus stars which are score related. When you do a super boost it really has a noticeable impact on your points. I dare say that getting some of these bonus stars would not be possible otherwise. Boosting is fun though so I recommend it either way. It really gives you a jump on the competition.

The game can be a little tricky at times but really just because of the controls. I played this one through the Wii U so I wasn’t able to use the adapter to play it. As a result, I had to use the ole Wii remote. Surprisingly they don’t let you hold the remote sideways, you have to use it pointing at the screen and tilting which is an odd way to approach this. I suppose I’ll give the game some credit for going in a different way but I dare say that it was the wrong way. In particular this gets tough for the drifting levels where you have to try not to hit too many objects as you get to the goal. Not to be confused with the Drift levels where you max out your score. I believe the former is officially called Time Attack here.

I do like the graphic style though. It’s definitely going for a bit more of a cartoony hand drawn style. You have little cutscenes before every world which I appreciated. It at least makes the game appear to have more of a story. It may not be much but it’s a start I suppose. The game isn’t particularly long if you stop after 1 cup but playing all 3 should stretch the time out to around 7 hours which is pretty solid. Once again, the cars you buy are important here. There’s no upgrading so just focus on buying. I say try to survive on your present car for as long as possible and then upgrade. It can be a difficult thing to do of course, but it really pays off in the end.

Overall, Need For Speed Intro is definitely very original and in this case it worked out in a good way. Perhaps total free roam would have been a little too much for a quick Wii game so going full on arcade racer was the next best thing. With non motion controls this game would be even better. I like how fast you can drive around and the level designs were on point. I feel like this game had a good amount of energy behind it which really makes a difference here. It didn’t feel phoned in or anything like that. If you’re looking for a more upbeat kind of Need for Speed title then this is the one for you. It’s very easy to just plug and play which is probably the idea.

Overall 7/10

Need for Speed Shift Review

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It’s time to look at another Need for Speed title. This one takes the series in a much different direction compared to the rest of the titles in the series. For starters, there is no actual running from the cops in this title or anything like that. You’re actually racing on a pro track the whole time as you work to become the best. It’s interesting that the series would go in this direction but it doesn’t work particularly well. By doing this, the game becomes “Just another car game” which is not something that a franchise wants to be. It had such originality and creativity before this. Still, I can’t deny that the game has quite a lot of content at its disposal and the controls are good so it’s still solid.

The main campaign mode here consists of you jumping into a bunch of different races and doing your best to obtain stars. These stars are what allow you to unlock more races to get into. Once you have obtained enough stars then you unlock the championship where you can race to be the best. The star system means that you don’t necessarily have to complete every race in first. You can also skip some if you’re not confident. The important thing is getting as many stars as possible so that you qualify. An average race will usually have 5 stars, you get 3 for coming in first, 1 for breaking a lap record, and one for some kind of miscellaneous achievement. On average if you’re placing first in events then you don’t need to worry about the bonus stars but this way if you come in second or third a lot then you should be okay.

You will definitely still need to play a lot of races though. The game may give you extra stars to work with but it’s not like you can take that as an excuse to lose every race. You want to realistically still win quite a lot. The game can be difficult, but I wouldn’t call it crazy either. A lot of the races are very winnable since your car can keep up. I’d say it’s once you go around 2 tiers higher than where you start that the game really starts to jump the difficulty up pretty high. It gets hard to deal with and you have to upgrade your car quite a bit to stay ahead of the game. Money gets to be a concern because you run out of it very quickly. So you always have to balance out upgrading with buying a new car. It’s also best to stay with the older car as long as possible because that’ll allow for better cars to be on the market.

Personally I’ve always preferred just having 1 car so you don’t have to worry about all of that but I understand that this does make things more realistic. I suppose it increases the replay value as well as you have fun customizing the car to your liking. It’s definitely something that it vitally important to the career mode so keep that in mind. The game is fairly long and I imagine it’ll take over 10 hours to complete. That’s due in part to the difficulty but also because there are just a lot of races here. You’re not going to finish it too quickly to be sure and that’s a good thing. It’s always nice to have a lot to do in a game even before you consider the replay value. Need For Speed tends to always deliver on that front.

So there’s not much to say about the gameplay but it’s your standard 3D racing title. You speed through the streets in one of the cars you’ve chosen and try to stay in the lead. There are also other kind of events like drifting where you keep a turn for as long as possible and other such events. The Nitro is always a fun boost as well. I definitely have no problem with the controls. It’s all very smooth and on point. Meanwhile the graphics are also top notch. The backgrounds are rather limited so it’s not as impressive as some of the other installments but I think the studio still did a good job of keeping it as smooth as possible. Then of course you’ve got a pretty big soundtrack although not all of the songs will be great. I recommend keeping the music low so you can focus on the driving.

At its core my main problem is that this just doesn’t really feel like a Need For Speed game. There are no cop chases throughout the game nor are there any night levels with fun backgrounds. As a result you feel rather closed in the whole time. I also don’t like the new mechanic that causes you to lose a level if you go off the track too often. That limits your freedom even more and the game should let you explore. If I see a shortcut, why shouldn’t I take it? That’s always been the spirit of the series. While minor, I also didn’t appreciate the new realistic collision mechanic. Now when you bump into something the screen gets really dizzy as you recover from the concussion. It’s definitely realistic I guess but you can actually get pretty dizzy from that. I tend to crash a lot as well which doesn’t really help matters.

Overall, Need For Speed Shift is definitely a very different kind of game for the series. It was an experiment, but one that I don’t feel worked out very well. It just feels a little soulless and if you want such a game there are many others to choose from. You should always have a real story to back a title up even if it’s brief. If you really enjoy racing games then I suppose this is a good one to go for, but otherwise I would say to give it a pass and pick just about any other up. It’s true that this is a very solid game, but at the same time it doesn’t offer you anything that the others don’t even improve on. As a result there is little reason to go back to this one.

Overall 7/10

Yoshi’s New Island Review

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It’s time to look at a game that I conquered really quickly. The whole game was over in one day which makes sense because the game is only about 3-4 hours. It’s also extremely easy to the point where you won’t lose much at all. Even if you do lose you can get back to where you were at within a minute or two tops. The levels are short and since you have endless health as long as you get to the baby in time there’s not a whole lot for you to worry about. There are no big gimmicks to worry about either so half the time you can keep running and jumping.

The plot of the game is that the stork actually delivered Mario and Luigi to the wrong house. Yoshi and his clan must now get them to the right place. If I were the Yoshis I would definitely be a little upset at this. Seriously they have to do this again? Well, at least they have a lot of experience in doing so. They will have to get past Kamaek and all of his minions in order to do this though. The heroes can’t lower their guard and must press on at all costs!

The gameplay is your classic 2D platformer. You jump past enemies and obstacles to get to the goal. Along the way you will see a lot of collectibles and may even solve a few puzzles. You can eat enemies and turn them into eggs. The eggs you shoot are used to activate controls and things like that. I guess the game’s main gimmick would be that Yoshi can turn into several vehicles. This doesn’t happen a whole lot though and even seems to be optional at times. Those controls were a bit weaker so I’m definitely cool with this not being a regular occurrence. I feel like that would not have been a good idea for the game long term. Part of why this game succeeds is because it’s going back to basics. It’s basically a Mario game just with the ability to throw eggs. It is fun to throw the large ones as well and it’s all well thought out. I had no issue with the gameplay.

The bosses also have a lot of variety. The Kamek bosses tend to be similar but even those switch up the background elements which is nice. Changing up the bosses so much is what separates Nintendo platformers from others. The final boss is also intense with quite a lot of forms and even a plot twist I didn’t see coming. It’s probably the most impressive part of the game because it feels like this is a moment when the game decided to go further than expected. It also had more difficulty than the rest of the game since falling into the lava would instantly cause you to lose a life. I imagine you would have to restart all of the phases again but fortunately I didn’t lose during the climax.

The level designs are on point as well. The levels are pretty short and you’re still given a checkpoint during the game so it never feels like you’re going to lose a lot of progress. It may feel unnecessary since the game is pretty easy but it’s the kind of quality of life enhancement that I always like to see. It’s important to have this kind of thing because it’s just a lot more convenient for the player. Who actually wants to have to replay a large chunk of a game that they have already cleared? It helps you improve but since this game is going for a relaxing feel then it works out quite nicely I’d say. You can play a few levels before bed or just blast through the whole thing at once.

The soundtrack is definitely very different compared to most of the big Nintendo titles. It uses the Kazoo a lot and most of the tunes sound like they’re just complete parodies of the normal themes. I suppose they would all technically be considered remixes but it had to be a little self aware. The soundtrack is just very unique. It works well enough I suppose but does make the game feel like it’s aiming even younger than usual. It does support the game’s low difficulty level though. The graphics look fine. It’s not exactly Nintendo’s A game but I think it’s going for a retro look so it succeeds in that approach. I’d rather they go with traditional graphics though because Nintendo games can look really amazing when they try.

There is a decent amount of replay value to be found here though. Each level has a number of collectibles. You can grab the red coins, flowers, and even medals. The medals are RNG though which sounds annoying to me. Fortunately the game made it so that you don’t need to grab these to complete the game which I thought was a really good move. Things like that should always be optional if you ask me. That way you don’t feel like you were penalized for trying to pay the game your way. It is part of why I cleared the game so quickly because I didn’t need to worry about stopping. If you want to explore then that’s fine but it shouldn’t be mandatory. So the main game is about 3 hours and if you try for all collectibles you can probably stretch this to about 7 I’d say.

Overall, Yoshi’s New Island is a pretty fun game. It feels like a standard platformer. It’s true that this game doesn’t really do anything new nor does it try to shatter its own limits, but that’s fine. I still would feel like i got my money’s worth on this one. It’s not the kind of game that I can find a lot of fault with. The level designs are on point and while the story is the bare minimum, I’ll give the title props for the final boss and actually having dialogue between each world. They’re little touches but things that add up. This feels like more of a complete experience than the Squeak Squad game I played for example because of this. The game may be short but it feels fleshed out. I’d recommend this one if you like platformers.

Overall 7/10