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The Towering Inferno Review

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It’s time for a really long film. This movie definitely wasn’t trying to be one of those titles that you breeze through in 30 minutes! Fortunately while this is one of those films that does feel really long, it does make good work out of the time. You could definitely have cut out about 20-30 minutes of lingering shots where the film was trying to show off but otherwise most of it was for character moments. A disaster film should be trying to build up a lot of characters so you can see who cracks and who doesn’t as the situation gets serious.

The film starts off with the completion of a giant skyscraper. The owner wants to show this off and so a bunch of rich celebrity types are invited to the mass unveiling. All of the lights will be turned on for each floor so that the building can be seen from anywhere in the city. It is a technological marvel and the architect, Doug, is pretty proud of what he has accomplished. Unfortunately he finds out that they tried saving a bunch of costs by not putting in the advanced wiring that he asked for. Sure enough, the building catches fire and now we have a situation where thousands may die. He will have to work with the firefighters to put a stop to this.

First off I have to say that Doug really should take no blame in this situation. He absolutely did everything right but recommending they use wiring above industry standards and put in a bunch of fail safes. The fact of the matter is that his plans would have prevented the fire from ever happening and it is entirely on management that this situation got so crazy. They all ought to be ashamed of themselves. As a result Doug is definitely one of the most likable characters in the film. He puts his life on the line throughout in order to solve this problem and save lives. It’s why he’s here.

The biggest villain here has to be Roger. He’s not exactly subtle either, the film pushes him as being super evil to the point of being cartoony. He actually pushes someone off to his death and spends the whole film being drunk and really defensive about everything. So if you thought that maybe he was just misunderstood, think again! He’s just not that kind of character. Quite a few characters show their true colors like that although none to that degree. There were several characters running for the one seated pulley despite drawing lots earlier.

The body count is also rather big so you shouldn’t think that things are going to be going easy since it’s “just a building fire”. This is a skyscraper so that’s what makes things different. There are tons of floors and while most of them were evacuated in time, not all of them were. One group was cheating up on one of the higher floors which basically sealed their doom. That’s a trope I definitely don’t mind. When you see characters just doing something wrong like that, having them get burned/bumped off simply makes sense.

On the hero’s side, Michael does really well in repping the firefighters. He is quick to take command of the situation and cuts most of the red tape that comes in. It’s clear that he has little patience for the bureaucratic stuff as he wants to just get into the action to save people. Without him forcing things along, the casualties would have been much higher

How you feel about the film’s pacing will likely come down to how much you enjoy the fire scenes. After all there isn’t going to be a whole lot of variety after a while. You can only show someone burning up so many ways and same for the various floors exploding. I thought the film did a good job of keeping up the tension throughout though. The pacing is slow but the good writing helps to counter that. You’re certainly not going to be bored or anything as you watch the film.

The effects definitely hold up well and there is some actual music in the film which is surprising. Sometimes these titles just don’t have much of a pulse to keep things realistic but this film realized that it couldn’t hurt. I don’t really have any big negatives for the film. I’d say that it’s a fairly safe thriller title with a lot of action and it is actually hard to predict who will be included in the body count. The film has some surprising moments in that area so that you understand how nobody is safe.

The ending may not be the most satisfying as a result but it’s not really something I would shave a star off for. The movie doesn’t have a lot of deep themes or anything like that so after the film what you’ll mostly be pondering is if there were any other ways to escape. Personally I think going for the stairs right away would have been the best move but they didn’t really think about it until it was too late. I would not want to go into the elevator by any means so I’d probably have taken my chances inside the big room. That’s part of what makes the film scary though, there were no obvious ways to survive. In that sense it is more threatening than the other disaster films where usually I can backseat drive quite a lot. I’m not counting films where the entire planet is going to be destroyed of course.

Overall, The Towering Inferno is certainly a fitting title and the movie did a lot with its visuals. Fire is absolutely a powerful force and this is basically the worst nightmare of anyone who is staying at a giant building like this. I never like being too high up in general and this film reinforces that. If any emergency happens, you always want to be closer to the ground. If you like disaster films then you should definitely check this one out. It’s well made and I can see why it has such a strong reputation. It actually gives you a full setup as all of the characters are introduced before things go crazy so you’re bound to have at least a few that you are rooting for.

Overall 7/10

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Review

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Phoenix Wright is one of those game series that I have seen around for a very long time but never got to play before. With the collection being on one of those big PSN sales, I knew this was finally my chance! It is definitely a pretty great collection and the games give you a lot of bang for your buck. This collection took me over 90 hours to complete which was intense! I came super close to hitting that 100 hour milestone.

The story follows a young man named Phoenix who is a defense attorney. He wants to help the innocent and prevent them from being sent to their death. See, in the future there are so many crimes that court cases are only allowed to take up to 3 days. If the defendant is found guilty then more often than not they are put to death. The prosecutors will use any trick up their sleeve to win a case and so Phoenix has to spot the contradictions in the evidence. If he is able to do that, then he will be on the right side of history.

Each game has a similar setup but the main prosecutor tends to change. The first game focuses on Edgeworth who knew Phoenix back when they were kids. They have quite a lot of history and so Edgeworth gets to have a full character arc. The second game has Franziska who is quite ruthless and whips anyone who annoys her. The games don’t mind getting a little extreme in this sense. What other franchise would actually have the judge allow whipping in his court right? Like with Edgeworth she does get a good amount of character development by the end.

The final game has Gadot has the main villain. He has a whole mystery going on that is unveiled as the final game gets to the end. While he felt like the weakest villain which was an interesting way to end the trilogy, I do have to admit that he had the best lines. Pretty much everything he said about the coffee or his abstract messages were just fun. So he definitely grew on me by the end.

Something the games really had going for them was the strong character roster. The supporting characters are a lot of fun. Mia and Maya have really big roles throughout the games and are people that Phoenix can rely on. Mia was really portrayed as the strongest character in the series and you could argue that she still has that spot by the end. Maya goes from being a total novice to actually challenging Phoenix in the final case. She really came along way there. The villains I already mentioned are really good as well. It doesn’t mean that every character is fun, some are a bit overplayed like the old lady. Whenever she appeared I’d have to shake my head. In a way the world feels too small when you bring a character back too often.

The games also did a great job of constantly switching things up. You end up playing as different characters as the games go on like when you play as Edgeworth or Mia. That just helps to keep everything really fresh. Seeing young Phoenix as an unreliable witness was intense. It really reinforces how you can’t trust anyone who is on the stand.

So what’s the gameplay like? Well, you have two sections, free roam and then the court case. In free roam you switch between different areas and talk to people to get evidence. You can also present evidence to people in order to get some reactions and obtain some clues. You will also click on different objects in the background like something in I Spy to get more clues. The toughest part can be deciding what to show each suspect or making sure that you have clicked on everything in the area. So you have to be very methodical. One thing you will figure out quickly is that every person should have 4 lines of dialogue. So if they have less then you must have missed something.

Some cases will add bonus gameplay styles to this like when you have a metal detector or a spray that can locate hidden blood splotches. The meat of the game is in the courtroom though and that’s my favorite part. Basically the witnesses will say 4-6 things and you can press or object to the statement. Generally you will need to press the statement first and then object to the one that is wrong. You will have to prove the contradiction by presenting a piece of evidence. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to find a contradiction and I died many times in this game. It is rather brutal, if you don’t save the game midway then you have to replay a large chunk of the case. Definitely keep a backup save at the ready because it is possible to get save locked here.

The game isn’t a graphical masterpiece though so you shouldn’t expect too much there. There aren’t a lot of animations as most of the story are just still images. There is also no real voice acting outside of the characters yelling objection in the court room. I’d like them to add voice acting to all of the dialogue at some point. It would just make this feel more like an authentic audio book. So the games are very strong but they succeed more on the premise and gameplay than on the technical elements around it.

Technically there isn’t a lot of replay value once you beat the game. It’s not like there are bonus paths, you either win or you lose. Still, at over 90 hours you don’t actually need any replay value. I obtained the Platinum when completing the game because I made sure to go back and get answers wrong as needed. You’ll get most of the trophies naturally but can definitely work on getting any you missed as a form of replay value.

Overall, This was definitely a great trilogy. On its own each game may be more like a 7 because they are just lacking a bit in gameplay but together this just makes such an incredible narrative that I had to bump it up. I’ll definitely be curious to see how the next games play out. I’ll miss Phoenix being the main character as the next trilogy switches but I’m sure they’ll do a good job with the next one. It’ll probably be a while before I get the next trilogy though.

Overall 8/10

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 Review

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The Vigilantes spinoff continues with this season and now we’re getting closer to the meat of the series. The big villains are showing up now and the plot is gradually escalating. All Might also gets to have a big action scene which was really cool to see. The series continues to have great production values all the way through with no real weaknesses and I can safely say that it has risen above the first season.

Koichi is a much more experienced vigilante compared to his season 1 days. Knuckleduster has been off the grid for a while so Koichi and Pop have to take care of crime on their own. They’ve done a good job of this though and have made a good amount of friends in the city. They even have time for their day jobs like Pop working as a real idol and Koichi supporting her from the side. Well things are about to get dangerous again as an evil speedster is on the loose. It won’t be easy to stop this guy.

Speedsters are always going to be the hardest characters to write around. Either the character isn’t fast enough to make a difference or they basically end the verse. There are almost limitless uses for a good speedster after all and ultimately this one leans more towards the latter. There are virtually no fighters who can really hope to beat him. There are some pretty creative approaches on how to deal with this but even those do end up using quite a bit of plot armor. Realistically this guy would be wiping just about everyone out until All Might notices and stops him.

The speedster is the best character in the season though. He is smug and dangerous, a really top tier combo. He knows that the heroes don’t have a chance and basically rubs this in their faces. It’s not like speed is all that he’s got either, he’s also a mastermind. He always manages to stay one step ahead which isn’t easy. As the show goes on he is only getting stronger too. I liked the wasp villain from season 1 so this title has really had great villains for 2 seasons in a row now.

The first few episodes are mainly about showing how well Koichi can look after himself and showing how the instant villains are popping up everywhere. For now the cops have no way of predicting where or when they will show up so the pro heroes aren’t able to react very quickly. Koichi continues to develop his powers so that he is ready for them though. We also do get the occasional guest star like Fatgum who helps out during the warehouse battle. It’s always fun to see the pro heroes appear even if this story is mainly for the Vigilantes.

Koichi is also more confident in his own abilities so he makes for a good main character. He’s definitely the oblivious type but always intends to be responsible and helps his community. He is a well balanced main character with no real downsides. Pop is also solid but definitely leans into being a tsundere a lot so she isn’t often honest with her feelings. That can always be a bit of a challenge for Koichi and she can look a little annoying as a result. I think what I was most surprised by when this first came out was how she never got a real power up. She isn’t really able to contribute in the fights at all which is unfortunate. There’s just not a whole lot you can do to make her more important like that. It’s probably why she has the idol career but that feels like a subplot at best.

We take a break from the main plot to get a few episodes about Eraser Head and his old friend Oboro. We learn about how Oboro would go on to become the shadowy villain, Kurogiri in the main series. It’s definitely a very important story arc to be in a spinoff to that was interesting to see. Admittedly I was much more interested in the main plot by this time but the episodes were handled well. It is interesting to see Eraser Head back when he was slightly less jaded. He also wasn’t quite the expert fighter that he would become later on.

As far as flashbacks go it was pretty decent. Midnight and Present Mic also seemed like dependable friends who really helped him on this journey. Without them he would have been even more isolated. Naturally Oboro was also good. He is a lot like Obito from the Naruto series. A kid who is really energetic and ready to help out everyone who he can. He has all the markings of a true hero and it’s a shame that he couldn’t last longer.

We then get to the climax of the season with the Captain Celebrity arc. He is trying to rehab his image which was sorely needed but he will have to do it while protecting a whole tower filled with people from explosives. Naturally if he succeeds then this will be a giant W but the stakes are high. Celebrity had a rough start but he looks good here. How much you enjoy his character will really all depend on how much you think he has really changed as a character. I would say it’s fairly night and day here where he is treated much more as a naive guy who just got on the wrong path before. I like him in the superhero context the whole time but as a person he will need to continue to prove himself more and more. Unfortunately I don’t expect that he will be getting very many scenes in the future to show this.

His powerset is really fun though. He has the All Might type of powers but to a much weaker degree. In addition to that he has an energy barrier that protects him from most attacks. It takes a whole lot to actually pierce it and usually Celebrity would be able to dodge most attacks. This was just an exception because he had to deal with the whole hostage situation. It’s safe to say that he is one of the strongest characters in the series.

This time the subplot actually ended up winning out though. While the main plot had the best animated scene with All Might, the subplot had Knuckleduster return to fight the speedster. It was a really fun fight with great music and tactics. Yes there was some plot armor but the fight is still really satisfying. Knuckleduster showed why he is such a versatile fighter and we got to learn more about his past. I did miss having him be part of the main cast so it was really good to see him return. It’ll never stop being impressive to see just how strong he is for a guy who has absolutely no powers.

The animation is really great as you’d expect. The colors are striking and the action scenes are really fast paced. The explosions are all over the place in a good way and none of the episodes feel like they really got the shaft. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also really good. There are a lot of great themes throughout. The main theme song may not be my favorite but the rest of the ost on the whole is pretty good which is what really counts.

The episodes go by quickly so there is a lot of replay value. There is also a lot of room left for a season 3. Naturally you need that for the big battle with the speedster but we can also look forward to more appearances by the pro heroes. Ultimately I will always think that the heroes are a little too by the book here though. Their hard stance against the vigilantes really just opens the door up for the villains. It’s a constant theme that never actually ends in this series but it’s always worth referencing. It puts Koichi in a tougher spot than he should be.

In one episode we also see Tsukauchi make an argument for why he thinks that All Might shouldn’t save him. He believes that it is just too selfish and All Might belongs to the world at large. I heavily disagreed with this because at the end of the day All Might is a symbol of peace for all. Saving Tsukauchi is just another example of stopping a villain and All Might will drop anything to save him. He would do the same for anyone else that he knows. It may be special treatment but it is not at the expense of anyone else.

If Tsukauchi had just called in All Might during the first battle with the speedster then the whole series could have ended there. As fast as the guy he, he’s nowhere near as fast as All Might. Tsukauchi’s pride prevented him from making the call and that’s the wrong decision to make. I sympathize with the plight a bit since at least I do understand it. I just disagree while All might more or less convinces Tsukauchi to call him in large scale emergencies; you can tell that the guy is still going to be reserved to an extent.

This does work as a great foil to All Might though who looks as great as ever. Since we see him from Koichi’s point of view, we can really appreciate how All Might was the ultimate symbol of peace. He shows up with the big grin and ends the whole stressful situation in an instant. He doesn’t struggle or hesitate. Then when the villain tries to get a second wind, All Might transforms and defeats him in the same instant. This kind of overwhelming power is exactly what scared the villains in the first place and the show reflected that super well. His scenes were crazy impressive here. I’d love to watch a whole series about All Might back around his prime or even the slightly weakened days lke here.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this one out. It’s not every day that a main series can get a spinoff with multiple seasons like this. It reminds me of a Certain Magical Index and its spinoffs. This show does well in keeping up with the main series and just has a cozy atmosphere. If you missed the older seasons of MHA that were very light toned, then this is always a good change of pace for you. The next season for Vigilantes may start to get more serious as well but there are a lot of happy moments coming up as well. The series is really balancing all of the action/fighting while also being a slice of life/rom-com for Koichi and Pop. It’s doing a whole lot of things and keeps that street level kind of vibe for the series. I’ll definitely be ready for the next season.

Overall 8/10

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review

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I’ve finally managed to grab the new Sonic racing title! Crossworlds always looked like a lot of fun. At the same time, it’s a bit hard to justify getting any racing game for $60. Fortunately it was on sale for $20 for Prime Day and that’s when I realized that this would be the perfect time to take the plunge. The game definitely holds up and really has a lot of content built in throughout the game. There are just so many characters, stages, and items here.

Naturally I went through the grand prix mode first. There are 8 tournaments and then you can play them all again in mirror mode. Each race will really push you to your limit as you try to come in first. There are quite a few speed levels in the game and the faster you go, the smarter the A.I. gets. So you will really want to keep that in mind here. It would be nice if you could jump right to the highest speed but you have to beat all cups on a lower speed to unlock the higher one. The gam is really made to force you to play it over and over a lot.

I think that can be a little annoying with how direct the game is about this. It has enough content where it doesn’t need to artificially extend it like that. At least if you ask me that was unnecessary. I did have fun beating all of the cups and am nearly done with beating them all a second time. You will really learn the ropes by the time you’re done with this. It’s also worth noting that the game starts you off with driving assistant on by default. Basically this prevents you from crashing or falling off a stage.

It’s nice as a form of training wheels and the catch is that this makes it impossible to get some of the red rings. If you want to get all of the collectibles then you’re going to have to work hard and drive on your own. I thought that was a pretty fair way to do things. You need to pay some price if you’re using an assistant like this.

Of course aside from the grand prix selection there are a lot of other modes. You have time attack mode and free racing. Then there is the racing park which has minigames that you can play. There is also the online races of course and thanks to the free PS+ weekend I actually got to check that out. It is really fun to play against other players online. I was surprised that the cars keep their customizations and items though. I suppose that means there will be an actual tierlist in the Crossworlds meta.

You can also use the online as a way to play the new DLC stages that you haven’t actually purchased yet. I’m glad that it doesn’t just lock them out or anything. The game makes sure to keep them tempting at all times with how the locked characters/stages will stay on your homescreen though. Basically the game is reminding you not to forget about all of this. The prices aren’t bad so if you really enjoy the game then you should consider buying everything. Personally I just don’t buy DLC very often at all.

As for the graphics, the game definitely holds up really well. The colors are super sharp at all times and there is a lot going on within the matches. The items are all really fun to watch even if they can be hard to keep track of at first. This game prides itself on being chaotic and lives up to that reputation. Especially on the faster speeds where things are really moving.

The soundtrack is also really good. There are a ton of remixes here so as long as you enjoy Sonic music then you will have a great time here. The main theme may not be the greatest Sonic tune that we’ve had but it’s still catchy. I was mainly listening to that tune while writing this review. You do feel like you’re about to get on a grand adventure. There is a lot of replay value here between the multiplayer mode and all of the online features. This is a game that will clearly keep on being supported for a very long while.

The customization also adds a whole other layer to the title. You basically have to try and get a ton of customizable equipment throughout the game and then see what you like to use the most. You’ve got tons of cars, wheels, horns, etc. For now I haven’t spent too much time on this and just picked the Shadow car with whatever items I had on hand. For the pre set boosts I picked extra rings and boosters. Generally I’m just not a big customizations guy. I’ll use whatever you’ve got and then go on to have a blast. It may come back to bite me in online races but that’s just how it goes.

The game has a pretty detailed tutorial so don’t be afraid to check that out if you feel a bit overwhelmed at first. Since this game is still getting updates, you will get a ton of pop ups when you first turn the game on. That is completely normal though. I unlocked over 10 characters and about 40+ items when the game first loaded. It’s honestly pretty exciting because it shows you how much free DLC the game got before it moves onto the paid model. Sure it’s probably a tactic to make you more willing to spend but since that tactic helps the player out, I’m totally cool with it.

Overall, I definitely recommend this game. It puts the racing genre to great use and pushes the genre about as far as it could go. I do wish we had a story mode though. Even a barebones one would have been nice just to have had something on the single player side. I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be in this case. A racing game doesn’t need one but it’s a little cherry on top of the package. As long as you like the genre then you should check this one out right away. I don’t see very many racing games coming close to this one anytime soon. It goes without saying but I would even put this one above Mario Kart World.

Overall 8/10

Cats Don’t Dance Review

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It’s time for a classic animated film. I wouldn’t say that it ever got all that big since I don’t really remember it. I may have been in the wrong circles though. It’s a perfectly pleasant film but one that seemed to really lack a hook the whole time. By the time it ends you feel like the film never had much of a high point. So it is a good adventure from start to finish but it never really stuck out.

The film begins by introducing us to a cat named Danny who is really excited to make his big debut into Hollywood. He’s always wanted to be a huge star and knows that he has what it takes. Animals and humans have long collaborated on a bunch of movies in Hollywood. What Danny doesn’t realize is that this is a two tiered system where humans get all of the money and credit while animals get the worst roles without any of the accolades. Danny may be able to change this but he will have to get past the number 1 human prodigy….a little girl named Darla.

Now one question I did have about the whole premise here is how Danny didn’t know about the animals having such a small role. I figure as a big Hollywood fan he would probably have realized that from watching the movie? It sounded like very few animals ever got big roles so that seems like it would have been noticeable. I think the film should have made it so they have decently large roles but just don’t get much money. That would have made a lot more sense on why he wouldn’t have realized this.

Maybe Danny just didn’t actually watch many actual Hollywood films. He did mention at one point that things were different in his hometown so perhaps he mostly just saw local stuff and figured it would be the same in Hollywood. There are ways you could answer this but I was pretty skeptical. Danny’s a good main character though. It takes a lot to get him to start doubting himself near the end but before that he fights as hard as he could. He does inspire a lot of the other characters including Sawyer so without him things never would have changed.

Naturally I didn’t think the romance worked all that well though. It’s a bit rushed especially considering what a rocky start they had. He really put her in a lot of jams without realizing it at first. Sawyer was also pretty content with her situation initially so it’s not like she was coming from a bad situation. All in all Sawyer was a quality character as well. I would have preferred if she had kept more of the fire she had in the first scene but overall still looked good. She just mellowed out rather quickly.

One character who did not lose any of her edge was Darla though. She was really determined to be the heel the whole time. It’s easy to see why it would be tough for her to change since it looks like the entire world was really spoiling her the whole time. The movie’s director and staff were downright scared of her. Then she has a huge bodyguard named Max who can beat up anyone in her way.

Darla was quite literally the star of every show in Hollywood after all. If they ever made a sequel, I could see her returning as a villain. She’s clearly no hero yet by the end of the film. We also get a timeskip where we see that the animals have really overtaken the humans near completely as they star in all of the movies. So there are a lot of interesting things you could do with a sequel. That might not be the direction they go with though but it’s an idea.

The music was one of the strong points of the film and was actually a bit better than the average musical. It’s all pretty fast paced with a whole lot of instruments going on. It reminded me a bit of Aladdin at times. The opening song about Hollywood may have been my favorite one but in general they were strong.

The songs also match the really fast paced, crazy action of the animation. It’s all very expressive and the kind of animation style that you miss from the old days. You could probably watch the movie on mute and generally understand each of the characters personalities. That’s always a good sign on the animation front. There are a lot of strong colors and they didn’t spare any expense here.

The ending is a bit sudden which isn’t all that rare for these classic animated films. The idea seemed to be to tell a good story and get a message across, then just end real quick. The film is shorter than half an hour so there isn’t a whole lot of time. While the story is good, I do think having the film be a little bit longer could have helped give it that hook I was talking about earlier.

That or make the characters stand out more. While I thought that the characters were good, none of them quite have enough character to make them pop out the way someone like Aladdin does. You just aren’t going to remember these characters too well by the end. It doesn’t take away from their quality at all but it can be the difference between a good film and a very good one.

Overall, I would recommend checking this film out. It is a fun film and there are no serious weaknesses to it. It’s a very safe film and one that anybody could watch at any time. The pacing is good and there is a solid amount of replay value. The messages hold up as well as the technical aspects, that’s just about where its limit is. Maybe throwing in more of a real fight against Darla could have helped. Doesn’t have to be a physical one but maybe a fight of ideals or something. That might have helped give the film some extra closure. These re all fairly minor points though, we’re just talking about the difference of a single star. As long as the film is a good one, that’s still the most important part.

Overall 6/10

Sneakers Review

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It’s time for an Oceans 11 type of film that I hadn’t really heard of before. This one has aged well and I just enjoy these kind of heist stories. There is a good sense of danger throughout even if the ending is perhaps a bit more optimistic than what would likely be happening here. The important thing is that the movie wasn’t going to end on a super sour note and I definitely appreciate that.

The movie starts with Martin and Cosmo using their hacking skills to steal a ton of money from rich people and reallocating it to their favorite social causes. Cosmo ends up being captured by the cops while Martin escapes and changes his identity. Many years pass by and now the NSA has caught up to him. They blackmail Martin with his past and say that they will keep it quiet if he steals something from them. A powerful new kind of hacking equipment that can get decrypt any security system in an instant. Martin gets his team ready for this but should he really give such a powerful piece of equipment to the government?

A big theme in the film is about not trusting anyone. Everyone has some kind of an angle here and you’ve got quite a few factions running around. The Russians are behind every corner of course and all the letter agencies would be interested in this as well. Just stealing the thing won’t be easy either as Martin runs into his past on this adventure. That said, Martin isn’t as indecisive as you may expect with these stakes. He just can’t let the blackmail get out under any circumstances and so he is ready to play ball with the government right from the beginning of this story. He never looks back either and just gets to completing the mission.

Something I appreciated about the film is that all of his teammates are important. The film balances them all rather well. First up we have Whistler who is blind. You may figure this will make him ineffective in most situations but he actually does really well and even gets the MVP spot. He’s the reason they find the enemy base, the reason they had an escape route, etc. Without him they would not have lasted long here. His senses are virtually superhuman.

Then you have Donald who used to work with the CIA. He has a lot of connections as a result and is the most professional member of the group. He has a gun at the ready and bails Martin out from a trap. Definitely the muscle behind the team and he keeps Marin from being too impulsive. Martin does well as the leader but he absolutely does tend to be pretty emotional and lose his cool.

After that is Carl who is the youngest member. He tends to do a lot of the grunt work like hacking at close range or being the guy to pull off social engineering. Carl can be the most annoying one as well though as he gets distracted on the missions and tends to be a little girl crazy. To an extent they all are, but the others at least try to hide it. By default the smallest role would be Darren who handles all of the tech. He makes sure that everything is working well on the ground which is why his codename is “Mother”. So he’s very important but gets a little less to do in terms of individual scenes.

There’s also the main heroine Liz who used to date Martin but managed to get out of that situation. Well when he asks her for help, Liz can’t really bring herself to refuse. She probably should have to be honest though. She’s stuck with the worst tasks like seducing someone to get his voice on record. That’s always a very tired spy trope that never really works without the victim just looking bad. In this case Liz got super sloppy though which put her in a tricky spot.

As for the main villain, well he is pretty good but definitely too indecisive. He can never seem to decide if his main goal is something really personal to him or for the greater good. He tries to use the latter as his reasoning a lot but it always tends to come off as a cover story. Really this guy just wants to prove that he is better than Martin and messes up a lot of his free shots by the end. He could have come out on top easily in this film if he didn’t make massive errors. I thought he made for a good villain overall though. He was certainly entertaining even if he wasn’t always very effective.

The pacing is pretty good here and the writing is solid. It does have the occasional miss when it comes to the jokes but nobody bats 1000. The end of the climax also may have been a little too goofy at the end. The film is part comedy but up to that point the serious scenes were mostly played straight. I suppose they just wanted to have a bit of fun with the ending and it’s a short scene so it’s not like I had any big issues with it. It just felt a little jarring with the timing and all.

The movie really made the most of the tech aspect of the heist. I enjoyed the challenge of Martin having to move really slowly to get past one of the security systems for example. There were a lot of things that had to go right for the heist but they all felt like fairly reasonable challenges without a whole lot of plot armor. There will always be a little bit of that in a film like this but it was never excessive.

Overall, Sneakers is a pretty good film. I had fun with it and it succeeds in being entertaining all the way. There may be a twist that you see coming a mile away but it’s still a good plot on the whole. The title of the film also stands out and is a really good pun. If you’re looking for a well balanced film then I would check this one out. It may not become your next favorite hit but there aren’t a ton of heist films out there and this one holds up with the ones that are already out.

Overall 7/10

Project Hail Mary Review

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It’s time to check out a sci-fi film that came out a while back and got a ton of buzz. Sci-Fi is one of those genres that can be really good when used right. You get to see characters running around with giant energy guns, using advanced suits of armor, etc. It all blends together to make for a really good experience but then you have other titles which forego all of the cool elements and try to go for some deep storytelling and lore. Unfortunately this one unsuccessfully tries for that angle a whole lot and ends up being a bit of a drawn out mess.

The movie begins by explaining that the Sun is slowly being taken down by an army of powerful organisms. They are smaller than the normal eye can see but they are shutting down every star in the system. Ryland is contacted by the world’s unified agency which is trying to save the planet. After all if the Sun goes out, then Earth has no more hope left. Ryland is super skeptical about going to space but when he wakes up after stasis, he is the final survivor. It is all up to him now but can he really claim victory here?

You can tell that the government was desperate since it’s not like Ryland really had too many answers here. He just has one breakthrough but sometimes that is where science can start. So a lot of the film is really split between a bunch of flashbacks where we see what happened and how Ryland got into space. He has amnesia in the present which is always a convenient way to avoid spoiling the flashbacks. Then in the present he takes a while to get used to the gameplan after some initial panicking.

I feel like the story was mostly concealed for the trailers so I’ll avoid too many of the specifics but the film’s story takes a pretty big change when he is no longer struggling by himself in space. Unfortunately I would say it wasn’t a great development to turn things around. This is actually a film where I dare say it could have been improved by a bit of romance or at least some banter with another humanoid running around. The romance would have probably been rushed so the latter would be preferable.

This film falls into the issues that most films have when there is only one main character. It can be rather boring. This is a long film that feels like a very long film and that’s always a problem. You will have very long scenes of the film trying to show off is special effects or panning around the spaceship to show you how accurate it is. That will probably appeal to some space fans but I’m really just here for a lot of excitement and quick pacing. It never goes to the absurd lengths of 2001: A Space Odyssey at least.

That will always go down as being the worst sci-fi film. That said, this one could have easily shaved off 30-40 minutes and been in a better space. Any Ryland scene from when he first wakes up is annoying as he just acts drunk the whole time. Again this is the film trying to show how realistic it is since you would be out of sorts with amnesia waking up after a super long coma but these are the kinds of details that you don’t need.

The pacing is at a glacial pace and again that is because we didn’t have other characters to bounce off of. This is one of those few examples where I can say that the flashbacks were far more interesting than the present day stuff. We got to see the governments working together, some shady stuff, and most importantly just a lot of dialogue back and forth. I would have liked it if every scene was on Earth and we just direct the people in space on how to save the Sun. You could still have a lot of tension with communications going out or the countries starting to fight each other which causes a lot of issues.

In space the best chance for you to enjoy the film is if you enjoy a friendship that occurs up there. Unfortunately the character they chose just isn’t all that interesting. This is one of those cases where I would say the design is partially at fault here because there is just nothing you can really do with that. You’ll just be shaking your head at the big reveal. It’s not like this is the first time a story has gone in this direction. There are a decent amount of similar designs out there but they never really tend to be all that cool.

At least I didn’t really have any issues with the main character. He did pretty well in his experiments and I also thought he made the right call in running for it during one of the flashbacks. I do think he could have fought a whole lot harder but it’s not like this guy is a trained fighter. So I didn’t want to be too harsh on him or anything like that.

Ultimately the film is going for a bit of an upbeat vibe. There is a body count to be sure and you could say it’s implied that things are much worse than what we see but the characters never lose hope. Ryland keeps his head down and works hard throughout. He may have personally lost hope at some points but would still get back up there. Personally being in a space ship so far away from home would be absolutely terrifying so just being able to get past that is a good look for him.

The advice I’d give for this film is just similar to what I put for After-Earth. In any sci-fi film you should try to keep at least some of the basic concepts around or you are wasting the whole point of being a sci-fi. There should be cool aliens, great looking backgrounds of sci-fi locations that don’t exist in real life, cool weapons, etc.

This film doesn’t have much of that. In many ways you could do this film without the sci-fi part The whole Sun part could still be around with normal radiation hitting it or something and then the rocket ride. So if you are going to go the sci-fi route, then I’d say go all the way and just make it a blast. Also we don’t need the lingering shots in space and all that. Space all tends to look the same after a while and we need the pacing to stay fast.

Overall, I would definitely give this one a pass. The plot has an interesting premise with the Sun going out but then the rest of the execution just falls apart. The film is way too long and loses sight of the number one objective, which is to remain entertaining at all times. It just doesn’t prioritize being fun and doesn’t make for a satisfying watch. I did appreciate the Football terminology though. I would always go for the Hail Mary in Madden and it’s honestly a great play to run on 1st and 10 because nobody ever expects it.

Overall 4/10

After Earth Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi film that has aliens and everything. In theory you’d think that would be a winning formula but this film does not capitalize on that at all. Will Smith is also written out for most of the adventure which was not a good idea. No matter how you slice it, this was not the way to go about things. It ended up lower than my expectations in the end.

The movie takes place in the future where humanity was chased off of their home world. Cypher is known as humanity’s greatest fighter because he has eliminated his emotion of fear. This allows him to slay the powerful human hunting beasts. These beasts cannot use their eyes to see and so humans become completely invisible to them except for when they have fear in their hearts. His son Kitai wants to be a powerful warrior as well some day but doesn’t end up doing so well in the exams. He ends up missing the mark to become a full fledged ranger once again.

Cypher’s wife asks him to take Kitai on an adventure anyway. Cypher agrees and hopes that perhaps the two of them can get closer but an accident occurs which destroys the whole crew. Cypher is gravely injured and cannot move so Kitai will have to get a distress signal. It is 100KM away and this is dangerous territory. Of all the planets they could have landed on, it happened to be Earth which is still overrun by those terrible beasts. A single misstep could prove to be fatal here. Unfortunately Kitai is really not ready for this either so it is going to be a difficult journey.

Right off the gate I feel like the movie made a mistake with how Kitai is portrayed. You’re supposed to feel bad for the guy since he has great stats in the training simulation but always freezes up during the field tests. It’s why he was rejected from promotion again when the film starts. You figure that this is the perfect kind of situation to get over his fears and yet right away he starts to panic.

I understand a little panic when things get crazy but when the ship is hit, Kitai starts panicking. An animal shows up on Earth? Kitai panics again. He just panics way too quickly and the worst part is that Cypher is able to talk to him through the headset. So Cypher tells him what to do and what not to do but Kitai just doesn’t listen to him. That has to be the worst part here because if Kitai was completely isolated then that would make more sense. For example Cypher tells him not to throw a rock at the money creature. Kitai throws one anyway and yells out to leave him alone but that makes no real sense.

You could make a stronger argument for it if Kitai was some random kid but he’s been training for years to be a Ranger. He should be able to handle this much. The panicking just never stops and even near the end he is still yelling at Cypher and not realizing what kind of situation he is in. It’s not a good look for him at all and so the character was not particularly likable. I really wish we had Cypher be the main character instead.

Cypher looks good for the most part. He is really harsh towards Kitai for an event that happened when he was even younger but is otherwise the voice of reason here. He has been at this for a long time and is ready to adapt to any situation. Since Cypher has conquered fear, he is also able to handle these unforeseen situations better than most others could. Being stuck in this chair is probably super frustrating for that reason since he knows that this situation could be handled a lot smoother.

I also have to say that 100KM doesn’t sound all that crazy. I understand that the terrain is a lot rougher but I don’t see why it would be such a big journey. Part of the tension here is that the atmosphere is not breathable by humans. So Kitai has to bring these oxygen discs with him and each one lets you breath for 24 hours. He has around 10 discs at first but after an accident he goes down to 4. After a while we see that it won’t be enough and he will be stuck, but why? For reference I have walked 40KM in a single day and that wasn’t even anywhere close to a 24 hour period.

It was around 11-12 hours max. So you have to do double that and you’ve got days to spare. It just felt like the math wasn’t adding up and they should have said it was 300KM or something like that. It’s a bit of a nitpick though so that’s not something I would blame the film big time on. The film’s biggest mistake is adding in a bunch of animal violence. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen it be this blatant. You have baby birds being murdered and then a bunch of monkeys are slaughtered as well.

It’s all to try and hype the beast up as being a huge threat but it definitely as needless as it gets. The various humans being hung up on trees was already enough for all of that. It’s always going to be the risk/downside of having a film take place in the jungle or uninhabited areas like this. Films just can’t resist the urge to throw in a bunch of dead animals which is absolutely crazy.

The monster has a pretty decent design, albeit a bit generic. It would be nice if the creature was a bit smarter though. Surely it can at least keep on throwing blows when a human just vanishes due to there being no fear. I guess these things can’t smell either since it seems like they are completely at a loss by this point. All in all, not the most intimidating monster out there by a longshot.

What the film was also lacking was more interactions. This was a big problem with keeping Kitai by himself the whole time. That just doesn’t make for a very interesting premise. You need some other characters to be around at least for banter. There’s not a whole lot going on here. I would say to the film’s credit, it doesn’t drag on a ton or anything like that. The pacing is reasonable, Kitai just isn’t a likable main character so he doesn’t really amp up his scenes.

Overall, The most justified character in the film was definitely the instructor. He was absolutely right that Kitai was not ready to be a ranger. The guy panicked constantly throughout the film at every little thing. You are definitely going to be a lot more interested in the lore around the world involving the aliens rather than on this survival story though. It is certainly not bad by any means but it is far from being really engaging. I would recommend skipping this one and checking out a different sci-fi film. Stranding someone on a planet with no access to energy guns and other high tech goodies sorta takes the fun out of the genre.

Overall 3/10

Time Limit Review

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It’s time for a film that really pushes is characters to the limit. How far can a soldier be pushed before succumbing to the enemy? Ultimately this will depend entirely on who the soldier is of course but the film raises up some good questions around that. This is a solid movie all around and definitely one that I could recommend. There isn’t really any action so you need to really be watching this film for the strong writing.

The movie starts by introducing us to William who is in charge of investigating a soldier who is said to have betrayed America. The evidence against him is really strong. This man (Harry) has his signature on different documents and his voice plays over the airways with propaganda for the enemy. Finally, he doesn’t even resist any of the charges and just says that he is guilty. Everyone says William should just end the case as guilty and recommend Harry for a court martial but it all feels too easy. William feels like something shady is going on and is determined to look into this more.

Now it is definitely good for William to check all the bases and not immediately just say guilty if he thinks that this isn’t conclusive. That said, not everything is a conspiracy. Now there would be no movie if this was the case but usually the other characters would probably be right here. It’s not like it is only circumstantial evidence, having the guy’s actual voice and signature be around paints a very definitive picture. As for why he is declaring guilt, well you could say that his conscience caught up to him.

Throughout the film, William’s right hand man is particularly upset about this. By taking such a stand, William is putting his whole career in jeopardy and if you are black listed from the army then getting another job can be very difficult. As a result the friend has to play the heel and apply a lot of pressure to Harry. Whether you like the character or not will probably depend on if you think he went too far in the movie or if you think he was just being a good friend. You probably want to have a friend who will have your back like this but of course there are pros and cons to this.

Sometimes the only way to help your friend out is to go against their wishes but that’s not always going to go over well. William’s secretary takes a much more measured approach but also tends to think William is making the wrong move here. Even William is unsure of himself at times but at least he does manage to get the full story by the end. He will have no regrets now about leaving any knowledge on the table. The film also ends early so you don’t know if his efforts were successful or not. It is ultimately up to you to wonder about that.

Without going into details, the explanation is essentially what you might have figured here. The enemy put a lot of pressure on Harry and threatened lives until Harry ended up working for their side. This is a classic tactic to break an enemy soldier from any country. You either torture them directly or bring in some others and see how much pain you can inflict until the guy cracks. For this reason, some are not sympathetic to Harry’s plight. As they would say, this is just part of what you signed up for.

If you can save 10 people by making a compromise with the enemy while potentially hurting 100 others, did you make the right call? You will never see the other 100 but you can directly see the 10 that you saved. It’s the tough kind of moral call that you can never predict until you are actually in the situation. It’s easy to backseat drive it but that will always be one of the toughest kinds of decisions out there.

For the records, I was on the boss’s side here. Ultimately you can’t crack because you will be hurting untold masses by working with the enemy. It doesn’t mean that I would have the strength to resist but I do think it would be the wrong move to work with the enemy. Their general was clearly not bluffing so he would have murdered the whole squad but they would know that they stuck true to their ideals the whole way through.

I don’t think William will ultimately be able to sway a jury on this one. As for Harry, I don’t fault him for his decision. Even if I don’t agree with it, I couldn’t bring myself to slam him for having to make such a tough call. It’s just too high stakes for all of that. I do think he could have been a lot more co-operative during the movie though. I understand that he wanted to keep the events secret after several promises were made but by being so tight lipped he instead caused more scrutiny to go into the case. If he wanted to take the fall without fighting back, then he could have explained in more general terms what happened.

He also ended up carrying the guilt to such a degree that it hurt his wife and anyone around him as well. There had to be a better way of handling this. It’s a burden that is hard to really understand from afar but staying quiet is never the right answer here. The film’s cast is pretty small overall so you really have a lot of time to think about the story and what was going on here. This is a film that is definitely timeless since war is eternal and this kind of situation will always appear. Like the general says, rules are ultimately there for a reason though. If you start to doubt them then you’re going to be in a weaker space right away.

Overall, I’m not always for following the rules in these kinds of films but this time the army creed actually held up. The rules were set up for good reason and have withstood the test of time. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out if you’re up for a film with debates and conversations about ethics. It’s not exactly a feel good movie though so you should be prepared for drama and an ending that is only potentially going to wind up being a happy one.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong 64 Review

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It’s time to play a very infamous DK game from a long while back. This is one of those games that you either love for how ambitious it is or it quickly begins to feel overwhelming. I’m not often a big fan of these old Rare titles but this one was actually pretty good. I definitely get how switching between characters so often feels unnecessary, but the character points are close together. Ultimately the fun gameplay and smooth controls helped to make up for some quality of life features that were not present.

The game starts with he DK crew being kidnapped by the powerful King K. Rool. DK will now have to save his friends and put a stop to all of the madness. He will need to gather 100 Golden Bananas along with a host of other items. It won’t be easy but DK is not the kind of guy to back down from a fight. King K. also has many minions at his disposal so fighting through all of them won’t be easy.

The gameplay is that of your classic 3D platformer. You will run through various worlds looking for collectibles. Each world has a set formula. There are 25 Golden Bananas in a world, each Kong can get up to 5 of them. Each Kong can also get up to 100 normal bananas, reaching 75 of them gets you a medal. You need 15 medals to unlock a sci-fi game that you have to beat in order to get a coin that lets you complete the game. So this title is definitely not shying away from its genre of being a true collectathon. Of course that was never really in doubt.

What this game does well is not force you to come anywhere close to 100% in order to beat the game. That should always be reserved for people who really want to do that and you can reward them with a secret ending or something. For example you only need 100/200 Golden Bananas and 15/35 Gold Medals in order to clear the game. I like those odds pretty well so I never felt like I had to be really exhaustive when playing through the game.

That said, I did manage to beat most of the opening worlds because in a way you save some time there. You are already familiar with the layouts after all so you may as well just finish them off right? Then for the final worlds I could go a lot faster and ignore most of the Golden Bananas as I raced to the boss. It’s just a really good balance and it’s clear that a lot of time and effort was put into these level designs.

Naturally I liked some worlds more than others but that will probably vary based on the player. For example my least favorite world was easily the underwater one. Swimming just takes too long and it’s really hard to tell where you are going. Then my favorite world was either the forest or the haunted house. There was a lot going on there but it never felt too overwhelming. In short it was the perfect balance for what the game was trying to do here.

One quality of life feature I would switch is how the power ups worked. So basically each Kong gets a power up or two in every level. You have to find the huts and get stronger. Then when you recruit a new Kong, you have to go back to the old worlds and get the power ups. Once you are in the final worlds then you can do this at one time but this did require a lot of back tracking throughout the game.

In some ways I guess you could call it a Metroidvania in that sense. Again, the game was pretty good about this. Backtracking doesn’t feel as bad as it could have since there are a lot of quick travel points. The game also does a good job of pointing out where you haven’t been yet. It’s not perfect as some mechanics are really not explained well but you can’t win them all. On the whole the game does a lot more things right than wrong.

The difficulty is fairly high though. Without rewind you can actually expect to lose quite a few times. Specifically the minigames are really unforgiving. You have to complete several tasks under a strict time limit and I dare say that I would have lost at least half of them on my first try. The final level is also intense with another strict time limit. The more blue prints you unlock ahead of time, the easier this will be. Each one unlocks another minute which is handy. You’ll likely get a ton of them just from playing the game normally though.

On the technical aspects the game holds up really well too. The graphics are colorful and really pop out at you. These were the Kongs in their ultimate designs. The levels are really colorful and this title must have pushed the Nintendo 64 to its limits back in the day. The soundtrack is also far better than I expected. I have to be honest and say that I was not expecting much. The DK games tend to sound okay but usually don’t have too many stand out themes. This one actually sounds really good throughout. Additionally even the jingles are really catchy. So yeh I was definitely very impressed with this one all the way through.

Naturally there is a lot of replay value here. I beat the main game in under 20 hours but getting the rest of the collectibles will likely double the playtime. This is the kind of game that gives you a lot of bang for your buck so you definitely wouldn’t want to miss out on it. If you’re worried about the backtracking and all, just know that it is considerably less time consuming than the Bano-Kazooie game. It’s also just really lenient with how low the game completion requirements are.

Overall, Donkey Kong 64 is a reminder that some of these older games have really withstood the test of time. It may be no Bananza, but it can hold its own with most of the other DK games. It was also nice to see a full fledged story with some actual voice acting. It’s not like the story is ultra deep or anything but honestly it’s just something that I can’t help but appreciate because it’s really not a guarantee in the present day. I look forward to seeing what other gams Nintendo adds to the online service.

Overall 7/10