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The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

rocky and bullwinkle

For the past 17 years now, mainly after reading Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah I’ve feared inter-dimensional rifts where the characters I created would walk amongst us and likely waste my ass in the process. Well before that, I saw the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie…

Who doesn’t know the beloved cartoon characters Rocket J Squirrel (Rocky) and Bullwinkle J Moose? Throughout the old days, the adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle charmed and entertained folks for years to come, thwarting the plots of Fearless Leader and his lackeys Boris and Natasha. When the 90’s and early 2000’s bring a time when they are nearly forgotten, until a movie executive accidentally brings the nefarious trio into or real world and begin trying to take over our world. Our only hope is in young special agent Karen Sympathy who sneaks into Hollywood Studios and green lights Rocky and Bullwinkle into reality. Can our Cartoon heroes save the day in a world far from theirs?

The Rocky and Bullwinkle movie, while corny, awkward, and a little dated, it’s a charming fish- out- of- water story. It was really cool the voices of Rocky, Bullwinkle, and the narrator are the classic voices; Deniro, Alexander, and Russo do really well as live action versions of the villains. The acting is all around solid and there’s a lot of cameos throughout. The movie is extremely meta which may or may not turn some people off but I liked how it was done. In the end, the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie isn’t a bad movie and its a charming little comedy for the kids. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragonball Z : Bojack Unbound

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I love the idea of treating Bojack’s movie as an epilogue to Dragonball Z: Android Saga (Cell Games) and honestly it does work pretty well in concept. Gohan’s on his own and he’s the strongest fighter Earth has to offer so there’s a lot that can done. So how does Gohan’s first time leading the Z Fighters go?

After Cell was destroyed by Gohan, Hercule gets the credit and becomes arguably the biggest celebrity on the planet. A spoiled rich kid has Hercule host a huge tournament with the opportunity to face real aliens. Of course the Z fighters show up and advance to the real show, only to discover the aliens they were supposed to fight were killed by a group of space pirates that King Kai had stored away, unleashed by his planet getting destroyed. The band is led by Bojack, who means to go on a rampage unless Gohan and his friends can stop him…

This movie could have been awesome but there is a huge flaw I have with it. Gohan isn’t a bad hero on his own and it was cool to see him in Goku’s colors; it was also cool seeing Trunks again and I like the detail about Vegeta mourning over Goku. I really like the opening fight with Trunks and Tien, two of my favorite characters in the series. There are some cool fights with Bojack’s crew and the Z Fighters throughout. The problem is Bojack. He predominately let’s his minions do the fighting for him, jumping in for a few cheap shots. Once Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2, Gohan mops the floor with him and it doesn’t remotely feel like Bojack was a challenge. If you don’t mind a disappointing end, it’s not a bad movie and worth a watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragonball Z: Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan

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I’m spoiling this now, this is my favorite DBZ film period. No contest; no arguments. I was thrilled when Broly became canon, though I was able to see his DB: Super movie yet. But let’s take a look at this special specimen of a DBZ movie and find out why…

The South Galaxy is destroyed almost instantly to King Kai’s horror; the culprit is believed to be a Saiyan. Intrigued, Goku goes out to investigate, leaving Chi Chi enraged Goku bails out on a meeting that would have gotten Gohan into a fancy school. Meanwhile while Goku’s friends are at a picnic, a spaceship lands near them a aging, one eyed Saiyan named Paragus emerges and seeks Vegeta out, pledging with him to come lead the new Saiyan home-world. Vegeta, his ego stroked follows Paragus despite Trunks trying to talk sense to him. The world is broken and desolate with only the slaves feebly rebuilding and Paragus’s seemingly meek son Broly the only inhabitants until the gang show up. Something about Goku bothers Broly though, enrages him in fact. The next day the trap is sprung after a failed murder attempt by Broly. Paragus , once a servant of Vegeta’s father was betrayed when King Vegeta tried to murder his baby son, then him when he tried to defend the infant? Why so much fuss over a baby? Goku and Broly were born on the same day; Broly was born with a power level of 10,000 and a natural birth defect where being critically beaten doesn’t drastic increase his power but naturally skyrockets on it’s own. Broly unleashes his full might, the power of the Legendary Super Saiyan…

This the most brutal DBZ movie of the bunch. Broly is a cruel sadistic monster when Legendary is achieved and he enjoys torturing Goku, Gohan, Trunks, Vegeta and Piccolo for the sake of it and they are powerless to stop him. Seeing Vegeta shut down hit me, because the odds against Frieza, Cell, and Buu he was never frozen in fear as he was with Broly. The story is surprisingly good and the transformation into Legendary is my favorite of maybe my favorite of all DBZ. There is some good music including Pantera for the transformation which only made it more awesome. It’s a damn awesome movie that’s brutal and epic with a great villain an d definitely worth seeing. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

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It’s been a while since I talked about the first Resident Evil (movie 2002) and truth be told, it’s been forever since I visited the series. Granted, I thought the first movie was pretty cool and the marketing tease for the second movie was actually pretty cool but by the time Resident Evil 6 hit consoles it seemed this movie franchise infected the games, something I had never seen to that extent before; image if the next Sonic games come out like the live action movie? So let’s see where this movie franchise began to slide…

The T-Virus has escaped the HIVE and has gone into Raccoon City. Zombies have started emerging and by night the city is filled to the brim with them. Umbrella has put the city in quarantine and dispatched there private security into the city. One of the main developers of the horrid T -Virus, Charles Ashford, is ordered to evacuate but his daughter is still in the city. Meanwhile Alice awakens different from the lab she found herself in, faster, stronger, and more agile than ever before. Along the way she meets up with a group of others including ex S.T.A.R.S member Jill Valentine and and Umbrella security Carlos Oliveira as they try to find Ashford’s daughter and escape Raccoon City while being hunted by the other experimented survivor of the last entry, Nemesis…

Ok, I’m going to say this now, if you are a fan of the games, this movie will really piss you off. Alice is basically a superhero, plan and simple. The characters aren’t bad but I have to say Mike Epps as LJ was hilarious and my favorite character in the movie. The action scenes are alright but there is no actual attempts at horror. The creepy theme from the first is gone and replaced by generic score. Nemesis is kinda cool and looks pretty legit but damn why did they put him in a black latex gimp suit? I do like the scope of the movie and I like that Umbrella is overtly the villain here and they do a fair job at showing the depths of there corruption and power. In the end the movie is meh at best but could have been much better. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Super Smash Bros 64

super smash bro

I may not be a hardcore fighting game fan but damn I loved me some classic Smash Bros. On Nintendo 64 I first encountered this classic which brought such iconic Nintendo characters together like Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Kirby, Yoshi, Star Fox, Samus, and Pikachu to battle each other in classic settings from there respective games. Besides fighting one another they also faced new threats like Metal-Mario, Giant Donkey Kong – which required two other fighters to help take down, as well whole teams of Yoshis, Kirbys, and Polygons all culminating in the ultimate fight against the Master Hand. Besides your powers, you have a series of cool weapons at your disposal like Poke balls, the Star Wand, Mario’s hammer and even the Star from Mario Kart 64. Unlike most fighting games, depleting your health doesn’t kill you; the more damage you take, the easier it is to get smashed off the map which makes for some intense fights, especially between friends. Honestly Smash Bros 64 is my favorite fighting game ever ( I’m untouchable with Pikachu). The maps, the characters, the weapons, and music are ingrained in my memory long after my childhood and my N64. I seriously recommend this game, especially with a friend, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Planet of the Apes 2001

apes 2001

Rise of the Planet of the Apes wasn’t the first reboot of the Planet of the Apes series. The first reboot was a remake from visionary director Tim Burton, the man who gave us Batman and Beetlejuice but also gave us oddities like Batman Returns and Mars Attacks! . So which side did the Apes remakes fall on?

Leo is a astronaut on a space station in the future. His job is to train chimps for flight missions into space. During his chimp’s test flight, a huge electrical storm closes in and Leo rushes to save his chimp. Caught in a wormhole, there ships crash on a strange world much like Earth ruled by tyrannical apes. On this planet Apes are intelligent and keep humans as pets and slaves, and Leo is cast into slavery with a group of others. With the help of Ari, a sympathetic ape daughter of a politician, they set off to recover Leo’s emergency beacon while being hunted by the the fierce Attar and the violent General Thade. Can the humans be saved from the planet of the apes?

Despite Tim Burton being one of my favorite directors and a great characters, this movie ain’t that great. While the setting is great and the ape make up is pretty fair but its still goofy to see grown ass adults acting like monkeys. The acting is mostly bland except for a few fun over the top performances but honestly I rooted for Thade the whole time. The story is meh with a really lame couple of twists at the end and the pacing is off and with a lack of action, the movie feels longer than it is. In the end, Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake is a pretty forgettable sci-fi movie that’s OK to skip. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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I found myself taken by storm after Rise of the Planet of the Apes and in 2014 I was eagerly awaiting the sequel. Once again, I found myself blown away by one of my all time favorite sequels…

A decade has passed since Caesar and his fellow apes fled into the woods and the mutagen that made them smart spread, decimating a huge portion of man kind. Caesar is now the lead of a village of apes, content with there peaceful life in the woods. Tensions rise when a group of surviving human is spotted by the apes trespassing into there territory. They mean to restart power from a nearby damn, but the apes don’t want them near them near. While Malcolm, head of this human group insist they mean the apes no harm, Dreyfus believes the apes caused man’s near destruction. Caesar tries to be fair with the humans but Koba, one of his best friends and former test subject, refuses to see peace and sees an end to the cruel animals who scarred him in sight. With both sides in turmoil and prejudices ablaze, can Caesar and Malcolm find peace when war is so close?

I can’t tell you what impressed me more about this movie, the depth of the story or the effort to bring the apes to life. The story brilliantly carries over the emotional depth and characterization from the previous movie and takes off with it. Once again I found it hard to believe the apes weren’t real and the actors deserve to be commended. Serkis again is great as Caesar but I have to also give it to Toby Kebbell as Koba, who is a great, sympathetic villain. The humans are solid in there roles as well. The climax is really satisfying and pretty epic. In the end, I highly recommend Dawn as one of the best sequels I’ve seen since The Dark Knight and it’s well worth a watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

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Daymare 1998 gameplay demo

This game was brought to my attention by my good friend Autobot when we watched a smaller version of this demo together. This game was announced about 3 years ago and here we have a damn good look at the gameplay. While the graphics are pretty nice, I can’t help but feel a huge inspiration pool from Resident Evil, perhaps a bit too much. Still, it looks like a alright horror game that has some tense atmosphere. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Christine

christine book

It’s been a long time since I did a dual layered book/ movie review. My earliest ones such as A Clockwork Orange , The Hellbound Heart , and Cujo were pretty popular. Since King’s adaptations are awesome once again, let’s look at a different kind of love story from the master of horror…

Arnie Cunningham is a typical nerdy teenager. He works his ass off to save money for college, is packed with extracurricular activities, and gets bossed around by his parents. His best friend Dennis is your typical good looking high school football player. One day while driving home, they stumble upon a peculiar piece of scrap- a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury. Arnie immediately falls in love with the hunk of junk. Arnie goes out of his way to get the car from the old man who owned it and essentially he gives away most of his money for it. Dennis ,Arnie’s overbearing parents, and not even Leah, Arnie’s pretty new girlfriend seem to like his new car named Christine. Arnie puts every bit of his energy into the car, restoring her to her prime until the asshole bullies that plague him destroy Christine. Leveled, Arnie’s heart breaks because the car meant freedom, opportunity and in the weeks that lead there, Arnie grew a pair. But that was all gone, or was it? Christine rebuilds herself right before his eyes, and Christine wants to take Arnie for a bloody ride…

I love the book and the movie pretty equally but for different reasons. The book doesn’t really feel much like a horror story, more like a relate-able teen drama until the first death scene in the second act. The book goes into some way darker territory towards the end and I prefer that ending to the more “Hollywood” ending of the movie. Also the dude who sells Christine to has way more to do with the plot than the movie would have you believe as well as a pretty messed up backstory which helps Arnie feel more in danger later. The only drawback is that the book is much more of a slow burn which will turn some off but the payoff is well worth it.

The movie is one of Carpenter’s best in my opinion. Keith Gordon does an amazing job playing Arnie as a lovable but frustrated geek while the rest of the cast is solid. The effects are pretty badass, especially for the early 80’s, and Carpenter’s eerie electronic score is iconic. The scene where Christine rebuilds herself is my favorite. There are some haunting moments with the car that genuinely freaked me out and Carpenter is great at making her feel unstoppable. The only drawback I have with the movie is it feels rather short and bare bones compared to the book and I would’ve liked a grittier ending like the book had.

Regardless it’s a awesome story from book a legendary author as well as a legendary director and either way I can highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory and on Christine’s good side.

christine movie

Mulan trailer

I’m going to be honest, I never watched Mulan as a kid but a vast majority of my friends have. I don’t think the trailer looks bad by any means, it’s filmed nicely and I like that it seems to have a darker tone but I’m likely not going to watch it the same as I haven’t watched the other remade live action Disney classics because I don’t see the point in them. The classics were classic for a reason after all. It still looks promising regardless, and may gaming gods bring you glory.