The Batman Vs Superman In Depth Review YOU NEED

Spoilers ahead, and some profane language. I’m going in, no holds barred. I’m going to be making wild speculations that could be completely wrong or totally right. Comments will be open for dialogue for all of my fellow comic followers!
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Ok If you’re still here I’m assuming you’ve seen the movie OR you’re one of those strange hellspawn type individuals that like spoilers.

I’m going to take you through the stages that I watched this movie so that you, dear reader, can understand exactly where I’m coming from. A lot of “stuff and things” have been said about this film. So I’m going to try to filter it all out and get to the bottom of it all.

The Story

So the first 30 minutes were boring. We relive Bruce’s parents being killed. Interesting point here, Thomas Wayne attempts to punch the mugger. This doesn’t usually happen, and when it does it usually denotes some sort of, alternate universe. When it happened in Justice League, it was Batman’s favored reality brought upon by Mongul’s starfish creature. Now of course, this time he still loses, but this tiny change could be an indication of a fractured universe/timeline, especially since we see flash come through the speed verse specifically to tell Batman “you were right all along.” A clear allusion to the Flashpoint run, one of the biggest game changers in the DC universe. Brings about the new 52, changes hero origins, puts superman and wonder woman together, completely mishandles Static Shock. You know, the big stuff.

We were all disappointed bro.

Thomas Wayne’s fist clench initiated that whole line of thinking. Different universe, fractured timeline. Now the question is, what’s going on? Superman has already shown he’s willing to kill, Luthor threatens his mother, who, we’ve already seen what he did the LAST time that happened (Zod). So I’m thinking maybe Justice Lords? (more on that later)

Back to the movie. Lane goes to some desert in order to follow a story. Shit hits the fan, superman comes in and tackles a guy(presumably human) through two buildings, apparently that doesn’t kill him, or it does, whatever who cares at this point, everyone’s dying. And that’s the point. The next scene an African woman who was there describes in detail to the US Senate, the horror she felt when seeing him come down from the heavens, bringing his wrath.

This whole time Lex Luthor is discovering a giant piece of kryptonite and figuring out how to use it.  While, as usual he has legitimate concerns about a seemingly all-powerful being operating under no one’s laws or supervision, his plan to handle it is devious and flat-out evil.

The movie gets a bit confusing (ok a lotta confusing) if you don’t follow the comics and or TV shows at this point. Dream sequences are thrown in apparently willy-nilly and are not explained at all. The desert scene with Batman would seem completely nonsensical. It actually made me angry how completely out of the loop the writers and directors left the  casual film goer. Batman is tricked into believing the kryptonite is in the truck, they turn on him killing everyone. Batman starts fighting, takes a gun, starts shooting. As all of this fighting is going on all of a sudden from the sky, Mosquito men come down.

(Ok I always called them that since I was a child, but I was informed by Lord Darkseid himself they are called parademons).

Get it right

But anyway, ALIENS COME DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS. With no explanation. Batman is knocked out and wakes up to Superman killing two of his comrades.  Then he wakes up again and is in front of his batcomputer and Flash comes through the speed force to tell him “Batman you were always right about him.”

WTF kinda fevered ass dream was that? If you don’t know about justice lords, Darkseid, Apokolips, AND Flashpoint you’re gonna be completely in the dark. Reason one why I can understand a lot of people giving this movie bad reviews. You shouldn’t have to have prior knowledge of 3 separate timelines in order to “get” a film.

A great part of the movie is the bombing scene. Where the Senator slowly realizes her tea is “granny’s sweet peach tea”, and allusion to an earlier conversation she had with Lex, the bomb goes off right after, leaving superman the lone survivor in the building.

Batman breaks into Luthor’s building and steals the Kryptonite, of course, he meets Wonder Woman there. Her role is pretty small, but opens the door for the Justice League to form.

Anyway following some great fight scenes with Batman, and some Messiah like scenes with Superman, it’s time for the final battle.

The hardest thing to write, I believe, must’ve been that fight. But I give all the kudos here. It was extremely well done. Full disclosure, I’m a Batman fan so I know why Superman fans are mad but go ahead and take the losers cape so you can be super mad at this. Batman beat his ass. At one point Bats LITERALLY DRAGS HIM. Now I don’t say this often, but at that point I was like YES DRAG HIS ASS!

The way the fight goes, it’s clear that Batman had the upper hand the entire time. He knew they’d end up at the bottom, right where he’d planted the spear (why a spear, idk, probably something about Jesus).

The fight was a great battle and showcases the difference between the two, brute strength vs skill. The fight ends right about here–

The only thing that stops Batman from killing Superman, is Superman begging for the life of his mother. As she happens to share the same name as Bruce Wayne’s mother, he pauses. It’s an extremely thin thread but they hang the plot twist of “let’s be friends” on it.

While Batman is saving Martha, Superman is watching Lex birth Doomsday. Strange that he let Luthor sit there and talk when he could’ve stopped him…

There’s a giant battle between Superman, Doomsday, and Wonderwoman. It’s a flashy battle with of course, lots of CGI. But It gets the point across I suppose.

Superman sacrifices himself to kill Doomsday which I suppose solidifies his “good guy” status with Wayne because he seems kinda torn up about it. The movie ends at Superman’s funeral. Bruce is talking to Diana(Wonder Woman) about starting the Justice League. Dirt begins rising from Clark’s tomb indicating that, of course, he isn’t really dead.
Which brings up a problem because Clark Kent has been declared dead as well, though his death was regulated to a back page of the Daily Planet. Won’t it be weird if he comes back as soon as Superman does?

Waaaaiit a minute…

All in all there were a lot of allusions to the comics…but that’s really a double-edged sword here. On the one hand, a lot of it was unfair to expect a casual film goer to understand. In the context of the dream sequence it was not explained, which was the problem with that. But some things like the weaponized Kryptonite gas, needed no explanation, but Frank Miller fans immediately recognized it. The line when the bad guy is saying “I’ll kill her!” and batman says “I believe you.” Classic, pulled straight from the comics and animated film. That kind of homage shows the respect and dedication that these people had to this film.

Themes and Philosophy

Woven intricately throughout the entire film are several intense questions.
What makes a hero? What makes a deed heroic? What is bravery? Is it saving a life?
If all it takes for you to save a life is you pressing a button and you have no consequence, are you a hero or merely a decent living creature with bare minimum empathy?
It’s always been an interesting theme to me and I’m glad they explored it here. What makes someone like Superman good or bad? If he sees a mugging and doesn’t help is he bad now? He has literally no risk associated with helping, so does that make him responsible? If so, his hearing has been demonstrated to be so strong that he can hear things around the world. So, is the only responsible thing for him to do is to sit in a chair listening all day? Because if he doesn’t, surely he will miss something and someone will die because he wasn’t paying attention. And wouldn’t that technically be his fault?

I smoke to dull the pain of all of my failures.

“I’m worried I didn’t see it, because I wasn’t looking.” This hints that he may start his plan of bugging and watching everyone. Locking up anyone he deems suspicious or dangerous seems like the logical end to his current thinking. Which kind of takes away people’s lives and free will.

How about collateral damage?

So many people died in that fight with Zod. You saved the world, great, but there were times where you literally threw him through buildings which subsequently fell, killing and endangering even MORE people. It was great to see the ramifications of his actions there as well. Far too often it’s seen as “The good guy saved the day, the end.” But in this world of hardcore politicians, policies, and ever-changing structures, like they say in the movie “every action is political.” It’s never over. As Friedrich Nietzsche poses in the book Beyond good and evil, nobody is all good, or all evil. So, if Superman does even one thing bad, with his powers…what is that bad thing and how many people does that wipe out?

One of my favorite lines is “You aren’t brave, Men are brave.” It’s said in the midst of the big fight, but it’s poignant and necessary in the argument of who is better, Batman or Superman. Again, Supes has little to no risk associated with his “acts of heroism.” So for instance, when Bruce Wayne ran and saved that little girl from the collapsing rubble, he could’ve died.
That was heroic. That was brave. He put his life on the line.
For superman to do that? It’s laughable to call that heroic. I mean, it’s nice but, it’s clearly not the same thing. Another juxtaposition that, while isn’t back to back, is there in the film.

Superman does literally nothing to achieve his powers. He wakes up and he’s a chiseled, super strong, sonic boom flying, son of a krypton. In the film they show how hard Batman pushes himself in the gym BIG UPS to Ben Affleck properly conditioning himself to do that scene. Phenomenal work man.
And therein lies the true, huge difference.
Batman has mentally and physically pushed himself to the limit in order to become a person who CAN be a hero, Superman just has to get out of bed and passes judgement.

As Doctor Ian Malcolm once said-
“I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here, it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it.”
In the context of Superman it’s, you didn’t earn the power for yourself, so where’s your sense of responsibility? Clark Kent wields his power as if the only thing he can do wrong is NOT catch someone. In this film Batman sees this danger and goes to take care of it.
Because in this world, Superman, is a God. And what kind of God gives his people free will knowing they will suffer countless atrocities for it? The kind that wears a lab coat or a sweater and takes notes while silently judging you sure… But definitely not the kind that wears a cape and desires your love and acceptance.

A good point that Superman does bring up (as Clark Kent) is the fact that Batman has been hitting underprivileged areas hard, and because of this he believes the Daily Planet isn’t covering his attacks. Especially the act of branding that he’s been doing that is essentially a death sentence for prisoners. Batman’s “in the dark” methods stray greatly from Superman’s more “boyscout” style. However in this movie, both heroes are a bit more grim, and more willing to hurt people so, each character calling out the moral failings of the other are a bit muddy.

Overall

There are many reasons to hate this movie, but I’m already past 2000 words so I figured, I’d just talk about it in general. There are characterization issues mostly, and they just stopped the entire movie for an email attachment to tease Justice League, which could’ve been handled far better. Dream sequences all over the place with no real transitioning. A couple of the redundant plot holes like why would you let the bad guy press a button when you have super speed…
But overall though, the movie was fun and intelligent. They may have overextended themselves, but the message is still there. In the next films they won’t be trying to do so much outside of the main feature. So it should be a bit more put together. I’m look forward to seeing what comes next from DC.

Thanks for reading!

Batman Vs Superman: Spoiler Free Review!

The biggest showdown in comic history. Bigger even, dare I say, than Civil War(Let’s be fair this is just two guys, marvel had to get literally every single hero they ever made in order to generate this type of buzz). These are the two titans that literally started DC comics. Superman and Batman. The light, and the dark. Who would win?

There’s been controversy about this film since the moment it was announced. For instance, when the news first broke that Ben Affleck would be playing Batman comic nerds everywhere had a collective sphincter clinch. Even I wrote an article about the stages the announcement sent me through. Rest assured though, after viewing this film it is clear that he learned from his past failure as Daredevil. He holds his own as The Dark Knight and his performance is one of the best parts of this film.

Now setting aside my love of comics and watching as just a casual film goer, this film is all over the place and makes minimal sense for the entire first, oh I’d say 35 to 40 minutes. Random dream sequences were forced in there (with no context for people who don’t follow the comics) for seemingly no reason. Honestly I’m still trying to figure out where the dreams ended and the real scenarios began. All of this mess happens extremely slowly as well.

It’s really the pacing that works against this film as opposed to acting or plot. Henry Cavill reprises his role as Superman/Clark Kent and does a phenomenal job. Jesse Eisenberg was an interesting casting choice for Lex Luthor. He brings a sort of…psychotic twitchiness that fans aren’t used to from Lex. He’s usually a calm, collected individual. Charming and totally in control…until superman foils his plans, THEN he loses it. This version of Luthor has none of the charm, but all of the ruthless intelligence…and a whole lot more hair. But his socially awkward persona makes sense in the overall scope of this movie.

All in all here’s the low down. Ben was better than Bale(I said it, fight me). Jesse wasn’t better than Spacey(even though Returns in general was awful) but he was still pretty good. The fight sequences for Batman were far better choreographed and much more exciting than in the Nolan films. I can’t stress that enough. He actually threw a kick or two, you know, like a real martial artist would. The lead up to the big showdown was rather bland and sometimes confusing, but after those first 30 minutes it was great. Overall a really fun movie and a great set up for Justice League.

I’m giving it 4 stars on a curve. The curve being, it’s a set up movie, it didn’t try overly hard to be something it wasn’t, and it delivered beautifully on one of the biggest fights in comic book history.

Directed by	Zack Snyder
Produced by	Charles Roven Deborah Snyder
Written by	Chris Terrio David S. Goyer
Based on	Characters published by DC Comics
Starring	Ben Affleck Henry Cavill Amy Adams Jesse Eisenberg Diane Lane Laurence Fishburne Jeremy Irons Holly Hunter Gal Gadot
Music by	Hans Zimmer Junkie XL

Thanks for reading!  I’ll be making a more in depth Spoiler FILLED review soon because I really feel this movie deserves a real digging into, so stay tuned!

Review: Race aka White people, please stop making these films.

So, I was lucky enough to go see the new Jesse Owens movie before most people. This article will be full of “spoilers” unlike my usual review so…enter only ye who do not care. 2nd warning: I mean it’s called “Race” so if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like racial topics or bluntly honest people…just leave now.

Let’s start from the beginning here because the failure of this movie is spectacular in its scope.

1st thing is, Ludacris came to the front of the theater to say a few generic things about Jesse Owens. This struck me as odd, but I figured, maybe he was a producer, or perhaps an actor in the film. Nah, he was just some random guy that happened to be in Atlanta that they paid to speak.
Then the actor who played Jesse came down, fumbled through some off the cuff remarks, thanked everyone for coming and left. The fact that he didn’t know any personal stories about Jesse to share didn’t bode well.
By the way, I know they thought the title “Race” was clever. Oh, it’s about race as in skin color and race as in he’s running oh that’s deep. No, it isn’t, it’s lame, predictable, and lazy. Stop it.
Ok, so the film finally starts. The amount of immediate exposition is almost unfathomable. The Grandmother is speaking to Jesse, she gives a long speech about having to cut out a tumor from baby Jesse’s chest, him going to college, etc. etc. Basically, she tells us who he is EXACTLY, which is necessary because they do approximately zero character development outside of this. Oh, and she literally never speaks again. Ever.

Shhhh, never again.

So right off the bat I know the writers are no good. About 30 seconds in I also realize there is absolutely no way anybody black had anything to do with the creative aspects of this film. Sure enough when I finally left and checked out who wrote it, 2 sub-par white writers Joe Shrapnel and Anne Waterhouse. None of their work before this was particularly noteworthy.
My critiques of the writers’ history aren’t insinuating that they aren’t capable of doing amazing work, it’s just that their lack of providing hits shows the lack of care the studios had for this story. If they actually cared they would’ve given it to someone who has proven, at least once, that they can churn out a hit. Indeed the writers they chose failed in this endeavor to create a compelling story.
The director, also, is white which is going to be a running theme here so, you know…

The overall story was bland, predictable, and suffered from far too many white saviors. I counted 7.

1. The coach played by Jason Sudeikis teaches a black man in 1935 how to deal with racism. He is also completely not racist at all and they are “totes besties” by the end of the film (Even though in real life he went on to be an Olympic coach because of Owens while Owens was banned from racing and had to work as a janitor at the school).

2. Olympic Committee member- He does a back door deal with the Nazis but gets all righteously angry when Hitler wouldn’t shake Jesse’s hand after winning. Jesse stands there silently while the OCM gives the Olympic director a tongue lashing and then physically moves Jesse out of the room. Because Jesse is incapable of doing anything for himself. Or showing any emotion. Or…you know, walking out himself.

3 and 4. The Jewish members of the team that they pretty much made the whole 2nd and 3rd act about. Jesse again is waiting for another white person to tell him what to do here.  This is only real, overt, catalyzing discrimination shown against anyone in the entire movie was enacted against Jewish people. Which most definitely you must show by all means (I mean it’s the Nazis). However when you’ve ignored anti-black racism as just something you can close your eyes and get over? At a time when anti lynching legislation was still being debated by congress? Completely taking over a black man’s story to tell your own is a big problem here.

5. The German Luz- The story has been embellished in this film. Yet again, Jesse is shown to be unable to perform without the help of a white man. Who is categorically not racist. He tells Jesse that a black man is better off in America than a white man in Germany(because they wanted him to impregnate some girl), to which Jesse is quite simply befuddled as to whether that could be true or not.

6. The woman Nazi filmmaker who is hell bent on telling Jesse’s story and thus, proving the Nazi regime (which she is apart of) false in its racist assumptions.

7. The little white boy- This one needs a little explaining, here goes. At the end of the film Jesse is heading to a dinner in his honor with his wife and coach.
Upon arriving at the hotel’s front door they are told that the “coloreds” will have to go around back. After some righteous white anger from Sudeikis Jesse and his wife calmly acquiesce and head around to the back. A few black people immediately recognize him and speak, Jesse ignores them and goes inside.
Immediately a little white boy runs up to him smiling in dirty clothes (because we have to show that everybody had it bad back then, not just blacks) and asks “Can I have your autograph?” This finally gets a smile out of Owens and he signs the paper for the child. They zoom in for a close up on the child’s (overly) happy face. Then they go to a close up on Jesse’s smiling face….And just like that, overt racism doesn’t matter, going around the back for your own celebration doesn’t matter, not meeting the president as is customary for Olympic Gold winning athletes, doesn’t matter….It wasn’t seeing his fellow black brothers and sisters back there (whom he treated as a kind of peasant fanbase), it was white acceptance. Because remember folks, white acceptance, even from a child, validates black existence.

Honorable mention. All of the white teammates who were just “so excited” that the black athletes were able to stay in the same dorms as them.  They literally jumped up and down with glee. Seriously.

Race suffers from the usual issues films about black heroes written by white people face. Jesse himself has no real character, it’s all about creating a world in which, the racism in America (perpetuated by whites) is “ok” or otherwise dismissed because there are SO MANY “good” white people who just don’t “see color.” However this rainbow colored filter they put on the past immediately turns into Owens not being able to do anything for himself. He must rely exclusively on the teachings and actions of white people to either show him the right way or stand up for him because every single racist encounter isn’t about him it’s about showing good white people.
Yet, historically in this time period, we see people being beaten in the streets, hung up in trees, burned, shot, beaten, hoses turned on them…I wonder where those good white people were?

Here’s the thing. They didn’t exist. At least not in any number that makes any difference. The pervasive attitude throughout the country, was that of overt, oppressive, racism. That was the norm, those were the laws on the books. And if you can’t address that reality in a movie TITLED RACE then I literally “can’t even.”

When white people tell these stories they create characters they THINK they would’ve been, but, in reality they’d have been right there tying a banana around a man’s neck.
I’m writing like this because this truth is dirty, it’s gritty, it ain’t pretty at all. But time and time again, and especially in this film it’s portrayed as “oh they called me a name lemme ignore them.” Yay racism is over, thanks for showing us lowly Negroes how to handle systematic oppression, murder, redlining and other atrocities. ‘Preciate that.

Even without the race issues the outright awfulness of this movie is unforgivable.
The scene that was clearly supposed to get Jason Sudeikis an Oscar nod was so absurd people in the theater actually laughed out loud. They really glaze over the fact that the U.S president, Franklin Roosevelt, never invited Owens to the white house as is customary.

This film about a black historical figure was not made for black people. But more so to appease the “white gaze”. They should stop trying to tell our stories since clearly they can’t help but insert themselves into them, completely destroying everything that made the story worth telling in the process.

This film about Jesse Owens deserves better. Straight F’s across the board.
Well, the acting was decent, they did what they could with the terrible script they were given. Half a star. Don’t waste your money on this. It’s destined to be the terrible movie the clueless history teacher rolls in on the TV cart (the one with the Velcro straps) and nobody pays attention to it.
Do better.

Thanks for reading guys!

Spoiler Free Review(Netflix!): Iron Man and Captain America – Heroes united

Back to the spoiler free reviews! Today I will cover a new addition to the Netflix library. “Iron man and Captain America: Heroes United.” Since this movie goes downhill quickly I’ll be just as succinct. First off the animation style is extremely off-putting. The 3D animation has been done well with shows like Star wars the clone wars and Green lantern…but this seemed shoddily done and or rushed. The plot line is extremely generic and the dialogue was clearly crafted to get everyone’s little catch phrases in there. Also in terms of dialogue and character development they hit you over the head with every little character change that happens. Frankly it’s insulting, even if I were five…which I’m not.

I’m obviously a new born.

 

 

So staggeringly generic plot lines and dumb dialogue aside, there are enough hand cannon blasts, shield tosses, and other destructive attacks to keep the eye flickering between the screen and whatever else you’re doing. However if you’re looking for something good to watch, avoid this at all costs. Sorry Marvel live action’s kicking butt but DC so far has got you on this direct to DVD thing.

One out of five stars. Do yourself a favor and take this one out of your Netflix queue.

Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,

Brian Bell

Spoiler Free Review Presents: Captain Phillips

Plot

Captain Phillips, played by Tom Hanks, boards a ship to take food and water to Mombasa. The trip will take them around Somalia. Wary of heightened pirate activity in the area, Captain Phillips is putting his crew through test emergency drills to help them prepare when the attack happens. The rest of the movie basically centers around the Captain attempting to save his crew and cargo with little, to no regard for his own safety.

EXECUTION

The beginning established the characters on both sides. I really respected the fact that they at least tried to show how poverty-stricken Somalia really is. It gave the pirates a more realistic feel. However after that opening sequence we don’t get much of that and it frequently delves into the “corny” realm. The acting and direction were superb, it’s just the lines were a tad banal.

Music

A few popular tunes here and there such as Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.” Mostly silence or a nice film score composed by Henry Jackman(Kick-ass,Xmen first class,This is the end). While the music did help create a nice suspenseful mood, it wasn’t intrusive.

Cast

Directed by

Paul Greengrass

Produced by

Michael De Luca
Dana Brunetti
Scott Rudin
Kevin Spacey
Written by Billy Ray

Starring

Tom Hanks
Barkhad Abdi
Music by Henry Jackman

Cinematography Barry Ackroyd

Editing by Christopher Rouse

Rating

While the acting and direction were great, the movie is undeniably boring and a little corny. Tom Hanks’ performance was great but it was like watching CNN for 2 hours, yes it’s entertaining, but it gets real old, real quick. All in all I’d say catch this on DVD but there are other movies out there that I wish I’d spent my money on.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

Old School Gamer Review Presents: TMNT: Turtles In Time

Children of the 90s please! Please calm down…stop screaming! I know I know…this game defined your childhood, yada yada…However, let me give the readers who for some reason have no clue as to who the Turtles are…a clue.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic book(a much more violent and disturbing comic book) and became extremely successful and popular due to a self-titled morning cartoon show. Like everything else in the 90s it had to have not only a television show, but a board game, t-shirts, jewelry, a series of video games, and spin-off toys guaranteed to catapult a child from excitement to tears on Christmas morning.

MOM! WTF!

There were a few different games, but today we are reviewing the arcade port of the Turtles in Time “episode.” So let’s take a journey with a few pizza eating turtles, through time!

Storyline

After a hard day of training, chowing down on pizza, exchanging hilarious quips and whatever else New Yorkers do. The Turtles sit down to watch catch their favorite news anchor on television. Before their very eyes Krang (who now has wings) makes off with the entire statue of liberty! Shredder immediately takes credit for it and the TMNT team is off to catch him. They eventually catch up to Shredder and seemingly defeat him. However he has one last trick up his sleeve. It’s all been a trap!

Uh…thanks Admiral “after the fact.” Anyway, he opens a portal in time and slings the Turtles into it. The TMNT team must fight their way through different time periods in order to get back to present day New York!

Cast of Characters

The playable characters are Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. April O’neil and Master Splinter makes an appearance as well as several villains from the show.

GAMEPLAY

The infamous screen toss! The controls are great, extremely fluid. If you want to sling your swords around you can do that, somebody comes up from behind? BAM! Kick to the chin while you still face the other way. Oh that bad guy’s getting on your nerves? Sling him into the screen! The controls for this gameplay are amazing. Very inventive for its time period. Not to mention it’s a giant mess of four player, beat-em up, Turtle-ey goodness!

Graphics

The graphics are great for the time. The backgrounds are simple but well done. The picture up there clearly shows the Empire State Building lit up as it is at night. That’s a nice touch to add to the great animation that’s going on. It really looks just like the cartoon show, and that’s really what you need when creating a game like this, and for the techies-

Raster graphics
Horizontal orientation
Resolution: 288×224 pixels
Refresh rate: 60.00 Hz
2048 colors

MUSIC

The music is great. Why? Because it’s the music from the actual television show, changed to reflect the period of time that you are playing in at the time!

The Test Of Time

Sit down around the SNES and play this little ditty. Seriously you will have some of the most fun ever. Side-scrollers are oft forgotten in this generation, which is sad because they were some of the greatest games to play. Especially the 4 player beat-em ups. Yes it’s very fun to snipe your friend in the head on HALO, but teaming up with him to take down Shredder is even more fun! Wave after wave of enemies through different time periods, as well as different difficulty levels will keep you busy for some time.

Final Score

Five stars! Great controls, cool comic book storyline, multi-player, and you can throw people into the screen! How cool is that? Unfortunately if it were released today I don’t think it would get a chance. Ah such is life. If you get a chance get this game and play with a friend!

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

The newest script from Wiseguy Industries-Sci-Fi/Action Kingdom, Come

Ok so while I was gone I was able to use my ancient mac and an equally ancient script writing tool called “ScriptWright” to finish two feature length screenplays. (Yay!) Without further ado here is the logline for the first Sci-fi/Action film Kingdom, Come.

Logline: When a rogue survivor leads resistance-fighters against a murderous dictator who controls what remains of post-apocalyptic Earth, they must face his personal army, bionically-enhanced Un-dead soldiers!

Kingdom, Come Act One (1)

Just click the link above! Ok got it? Good. So anyway I’d love your opinion on the logline as well as the first act. I would like to hear honest opinions if you like it say so if you don’t, you can say that as well. I only ask that both sides be constructive if you do feel like answering. The second one is still undergoing construction but soon I will be uploading the first act of that one as well. I really appreciate you guys! Thanks!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

Old School Video Game Review: Bebe’s Kids SNES

Ok so my parent’s got me this game and I always thought it was interesting. Interesting here being a very subjective word as this game induced several incidences of hair being ripped out, curses being said, and the occasional kitten being kicked across the room. This review will be extremely brief.

DON’T PLAY THIS GAME. It sucks. Seriously the controls suck, the actions you can actually do when you figure out the asinine controls, suck. If you manage to get through the first extremely boring level, you won’t make it out of the haunted house. There is almost no way to figure out how to get through it and if you DO figure it out then you just wasted 40+ hours of your life you could’ve spent doing something vastly more important. Maybe like clipping your toenails or staring into the mirror and saying bloody mary three times.

The music is repetitive (hey yo *pause* hey yo! Bebe’s kiiiids for 24 hours straight), graphics are decent but its hard to tell where you are in terms of depth on screen.

This gets no stars, I’m not even going to upload the pictures of gameplay or the pictures of no stars I’m just going to repeat, DO NOT GET THIS TERRIBLE GAME!

Thanks for reading

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

The Not So Old School review: Tales of Symphonia Gamecube

A few years back I had an aversion to anything anime. Not because I thought it was a lesser form of storytelling or I thought it was childish. It was because I know myself, if something’s good I want to see all of it, I’ll become a fan and I will spend countless hours tracking down information about it to further expand my knowledge. I was under the impression shows and games that are based in the anime genre tend to go on forever. (Found out later that isn’t ALWAYS true Gantz,Bebop,FMA:B,VampireD etc). I also refused to play any turn based games besides pokemon and shining force (No I don’t know what was wrong with me, don’t judge me).

So somehow I was talked into trying out this game titled Tales of Symphonia, a two disc,turn based, anime style, game on the gamecube. Here we go!

STORYLINE

The game takes place in the world of Sylvarant, a lush beautiful world with plenty of Mana which is magical energy. There world is run by the church and by people called Desians. Desians have a strange hatred towards elves and half elves. We come in at the point where the “chosen one” must go on their journey of world regeneration. As everything in their world runs off of mana, a chosen one must break the seals on five different temples.

The chosen one and her group head off to start the process of regeneration. When she arrives at the first temple they see a priest dying who warns the chosen one to be careful. Desians fall upon the group and they are saved by a mysterious swordsman. He offers to stay for a fee, but when he hears the name of one of the members he tells that member not to come.

The Member is eventually allowed to join and they move on. Eventually they discover that there are two worlds vying for mana. This regeneration process robs the other world of its mana, therefore sending it into decay. The chosen one of Sylvarant and friends try to find a way to make the quest work for both worlds.

Now there is quite a bit more to this story than I just put in to that last paragraph. That’s because the story is the BEST part of this game. It’s deep, philosophical, and has so many twists and turns that I can’t really say too much past the first few hours of gameplay. Suffice to say this story is one of the best, well developed, and executed storylines I’ve ever seen in a video game. To prove that point they have made a few seasons of a television anime based off of the game, which usually happens the other way around.

CHARACTERS

Lloyd Irving-The main character, he was raised by a dwarf that found him and his mother. His mother died and imparted to him a stone. He’s stubborn and doesn’t like studying anything but fighting. He’s good hearted and never gives up. Dwarven vow #9 fall seven times get up 8 best describes his character.
Colette Brunel-The chosen one of Sylvarant. A sweet, innocent, sometimes naive girl. She is very strong though and is willing to accept whatever fate she must in order to make a better world for everyone. Her favorite Dwarven vow is #7 “Goodness and love will always win.”
Genis Sage-Llyod’s best friend, magic user, and extremely studious. He is the younger brother of  their schoolteacher. Often Llyod’s intellectual foil (especially since his sarcasm sometimes goes right over his friend’s head). His favorite Dwarven Vow would be #16 “You can do anything if you try.”

Kratos Aurion-The mysterious swordsman that saves them in the beginning of the game. He’s extremely adept at fighting and eventually becomes an unwilling mentor to Lloyd in this respect. His favorite Dwarven vow would be  #5 “The more you add, the worse it gets.”

Raine Sage-The Older sister of Genis. She is an avid historian and a great teacher. She is also a magic user. Very calm and likes to think things through, unless historic artifacts are involved. At that point she forgets where she is and will run in headfirst. She’s also a TERRIBLE cook. Her favorite Dwarven vow would be #43″never forget the basics.”
Sheena Fujibayashi- An assasain from the neighboring world vying for the mana called Tethe’alla. Haunted by failures in her past, she has sworn to stop the chosen one of Sylvarant. However when she discovers that Colette is willing to help her world she concedes to helping find a better way for both worlds. Favorite Dwarven vow- “a bad workman blames his tools.

Zelos Wilder-The chosen one of Tethe’alla. He is snobbish, spoiled, and believes he is god’s gift to women. Constantly hits on just about all of the female characters in the game. Actually if you walk around as him women will give him different items. Favorite Dwarven Vow- #10 “Play hard, Play Often.”
Presea Combatir-A twelve year old lumberjack. Sound odd? It is but her story is being shadowed by the things in the story that would be huge spoilers. Just know she’s very quiet but very strong. Her favorite Dwarven vow would be #14 “Even a small star shines in the darkness.”

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay to this game is pretty cool. You can decide which character you want to control. Usually you will be in a group with about four members and the ones you don’t control will do whatever you assign them to do. For example if you want someone to just use magic attacks and stay on the back lines, you can program them to do that. If you want them to conserve said magic and rush their attackers, they can be programmed to do that as well. There are seemingly endless ways to customize not only the actual fighting styles IN the battle but outside of battle for preparation. As is the custom with RPGs everything contributes to the battle from the shoes on your feet to the  bandanna you can put on your head. Also there are things called exospheres that can add to your strength and abilities.

Another thing that makes this gameplay cool is that its not 100 percent turn based. You have control over your character’s movements and timing often is key. You can utilize a variety of magic spells that can do anything from heal to summon lightning. The swordsmasters and hand to hand combat characters are able to do many different charge attacks. When you get the gauge at the bottom of the screen filled you can release a hard hitting team attack. You fill the gauge by doing combos with individual characters, of which there are a LOT of.

Also there is a large variety in gameplay with mini games and puzzles found often throughout the worlds that you traverse.

GRAPHICS

For a Gamecube game the graphics are great. It keeps its anime style during the entire world. When you are in battle stylized magic attacks and strike attacks are touched up to look pretty good. Amazing artwork with subtle touches throughout. A nice style and very good attention to the characters. One thing I like in other platform RPGs that is absent here however is the changing of clothes when you equip different items. That’s a nice touch that I wish I could see visually in this game. Other than that great looking enemies, great looking characters, and great looking worlds.

MUSIC

The music is good. A good score for the game they were trying to make, though it does get a bit repetitive. Here’s a clip I found on youtube.

Just imagine that over and over and you have just about every fight. But its not as bad as it seems, it changes up when you go to a different world.

RATING

Five stars for this game. It effectively merges the RPG world with live action gameplay. Not only is the full strategy concept there, but the action is as well. With hours of gameplay and secrets to unlock you’ll be replaying this for a long time. The story never gets old, the characters personalities come to life in every cut-scene and battle. The story keeps you engrossed to the point where you won’t want to stop playing just so you will know what happens next.

If you haven’t played this game, you really should. Its amazing and you are doing a disservice to yourself!

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

Batman: Arkham Origins Trailer

So recently the Batman Arkham Origins video game trailer was released. For awhile now there’s been a lot of speculation as to what this game would be about and who the villains would be. Well thankfully they’ve finally released a trailer.

Now a lot of people will be disappointed in the voice acting selection however a quick browsing of the IMBD page and you will see that Kevin Conroy is indeed back as batman, however the lack of Mark Hamill is saddening. Instead they’ve moved Troy Baker (Robin,Two-face from Arkham City) over to play The Joker, he’s a good voice actor so we shall see.

The reason they’ve changed voices is that this is supposed to be a younger batman. Just starting out I believe about two years in. Batman has not yet garnered the respect or help of the Gotham PD. Gordon is just a captain and Black Mask has decided to put such a large price on this new Batman’s head that head hunters from all over the world come to cash in. This includes Slade and Deadshot. The game again takes place over one night, Christmas eve.

It seems like this world will be even bigger and interactive than the last one. Each game seems to build upon what the last one established. Sometimes in video game trilogies this ends up adding too much extra gimmicky stuff and the last one is people’s least favorite. Hopefully the designers have treaded that thin line between too much and not enough growth.

Overall I’m pretty excited for this game, the Arkham series is the only series besides Gears of War that I’ve actually reserved and grabbed a place in line for. It’s never disappointed me so I look forward to this one!

Here’s a list of the voice actors from IMBD-

Cast

Nolan North … Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin / Roman Sionis / Black Mask (voice)

Troy Baker … The Joker (voice)

Kevin Conroy … Batman – Older (voice)

Fred Tatasciore … Bane (voice)

Roger Craig Smith … Bruce Wayne / Batman (voice)

Martin Jarvis … Alfred Pennyworth (voice)

David Kaye … James Gordon (voice)

Chris Cox … Floyd Lawton / Deadshot (voice)

I’ll be updating this as I get new info!

Thanks For Reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries