Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

jimmy neutron movie

The other night I was feeling old as hell, recently turning 29, and I needed to feel like a kid again. I remember seeing the trailer for the first time and being perplexed by this new CGI animation. So almost two decades later, did I still enjoy a old childhood favorite or did it die with much other nostalgic things?

Retroville is a quiet little suburb that would be a run of the mill town if not for the chaotic inventions of Jimmy Neutron, 10 year old boy genius. Jimmy is mostly a normal kid with normal parents, has friends, and a robot dog named Goddard and has a desire to communicate with extraterrestrial beings. After sending a probe into orbit, a race of egg based aliens finds it and heads to Earth for the adults because of Jimmy. At first, the kids are living a dream that becomes a nightmare once reality sets in- they need there parents. So the kids of Retroville have to ban together and save there parents before they are sacrificed to a Kaiju chicken god!

I’m pretty surprised how much fun I had with Jimmy Neutron as an adult. The movie has a good blend of humor and heart with a solid story and characters behind it. Patrick Stewart as King GooBot is a pretty nice touch as well. The animation holds up well enough but I have to admit the pop music makes the movie feel dated as shit. In the end, I’d say it’s a pretty good movie the whole family can enjoy. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Brahms: The Boy II trailer 2

First, I gotta give the studio credit for posting this trailer on Make A Friend Day. Besides that, I still haven’t stopped asking why this movie exists. I guess Brahms possessed a kid, even though he wasn’t a ghost, this just gives me a hard kind of generic vibe. I can’t say I’m waiting it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Possession

possession

You ever watch a movie and think to yourself “Damn, this actor is way too good for this movie”? Well that was me throughout the entirety of this movie with Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Clyde is a basketball coach who is recently divorced, taking his daughters Hannah and Emily for the weekend. During a casual trip to a yard sale, Emily comes across a cute wooden box with some carvings in on it. They buy the box. Emily becomes infatuated by the box and starts becoming distant, ravenous, and eventually hostile when not without it. What’s her obsession with the box?

Everyone, I have to be honest, this is one of those times I felt bad for the actors involved. Jeffrey Dean Morgan tries his ass off to make something out of this movie and the cast is pretty solid around him with a decent horror score. BUT this is pretty much every by-the-numbers haunting/ possession movie ever. There aren’t really any curve balls but there is some spotty CGI and unnecessary jump scares. Honestly, I think this could have been a better family drama because all the horror elements bring down what could’ve been a alright movie. In the end, this is totally skip-able and generic. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

28 Weeks Later

28 weeks

28 Days Later is hands down my favorite zombie film and one of my all time favorite horror movies. The sequel, many consider to be a superior sequel or at least of the prestige few horror sequels achieve by being near as good as the first.

We join a family torn apart during the Rage virus outbreak in Britain. John and his wife were hiding out until a massive swarm descended upon them; he watched his wife seemingly get devoured and instead of trying to save her, he ran. 28 weeks after the outbreak, NATO declares a small part of Britain is clean to re-inhabit and the Rage virus has been cleared out. John is reunited with his kids Sam and Andy, who discover that there mom is still alive after breaking quarantine. In her blood is a natural immunity to Rage but she still is a carrier and highly contagious. And with a single kiss, the hope of that the Rage virus was destroyed comes to a violent and bloody end…

That last part I can’t stress enough, 28 Weeks is way bloodier and more disturbing than the first. There were a few times where I felt my eyes pop open in surprise how far it went. While I admire the choice, I also feel the gore became too gratuitous for it’s own good ( the helicopter scene as an example). I will say, the movie continues the original’s legacy of good characters and being filmed really damn well as well as being genuinely scary. What’s nice is this is a completely standalone sequel so you don’t need to have watched the first one. The opening is expertly done and one of my favorite opening horror scenes. Something I regretfully have to say unfortunately besides the overuse of gore, I hate the couple jump scare scenes they add in but, to the movie’s credit, only one is just totally fruitless. In the end, 28 Weeks Later is a damn good sequel I’d highly recommend and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

“The Batman” Bat-suit reveal

This is going to be a quick post, but a juicy one for the Bat fans out there: our first look at Rob Pattinson in the iconic Bat-suit. I love the Batman: Arkham Knight kinda vibe with the armor and I love the idea of the symbol being forged from the gun that killed his parents. I’m excited to see the coloring on the suit, but so far the look is brooding and realistic and a welcome sight so far. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragonball Super: Broly

dbs broly

Dragonball Z: Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan was one the Z series most popular features but wasn’t considered canon officially. With Super overtaking the divisive GT, the door opened to justify this by retelling the story of the mad Saiyan as well as add a new layer to the story and character unseen before…

The fall of the Saiyans was upon them as Frieza was about to lay waste to the Saiyan populace when a child was born with an exceptional power level, even more than the prodigal Prince Vegeta. The king was furious, damning the child to death by sending him to a hellish planet. His father Paragus stranded himself to save the boy, raising him to seek revenge against Vegeta, seemingly the last Bastille of the old regime. Broly, trained to be a monster, is actually a kind soul who never got to blossom with a keen fighting ability and a frightening power he can’t control. Without achieving Super Saiyan, he easily matches the power of Goku and Vegeta at God level but it’s Frieza, remembering what drove Goku to snap, decides to snap Broly and the 3 are faced with something nearly unstoppable but can they defeat him before his power leads the power of Gogeta to destroy him?

This very well maybe the best DBZ movie yet and I’m really surprised how well Broly was reinvented. His character has a lot of depth and is surprisingly tragic as well as extremely badass. The fights are top notch and are shown in some really awesome, fresh ways on top of the vibrant colors and fast action. The new backstory I’m mostly good with but I have to say Goku’s part reminded me too much of Superman’s origin which is my only real gripe along with not seeing Beerus or Whise facing off against Legendary SS. In the end, it’s a hell of a movie I’d definitely recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

broly lss

Name The Monster

**NAME THE DREADLANDS MONSTER**

An epic monster deserves an epic name

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, February 12, 2020. Fatshark and Blackfox Studios are in need of a creative soul that will help us give our unnamed monster a name that a gruesome monster deserves.

We are looking for a name, and you can be the Senior Monster Name Specialist at Blackfox Studios. The position is only open for one unnamed monster which so far is unknown to the masses.

The brief is simple, send us your best ideas for a name that people in the Dreadlands can include in their stories and tall tales, like when they faced this monstrous beast head-on bare knuckles and all and survived to tell the tale. Of course, that’s just the Dreadlands version of the fish story; no mortal man would survive a fist fight with “new name here”!

The best name submitted will be included in the game, and will forever be the name of this deadly beast in Dreadlands. Who knows, you could be the lucky person who names the monster, and get your name in the credits (hey, now you’re a game developer!).

Here’s where to send all your best name ideas www.playdreadlands.com/name-the-monster

No joke, click the link and name the monster pictured. There is a prize for the winning name. Good luck my friends, may the gaming gods smile upon you.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

force unleashed 2

If the dictionary had a definition of “forced sequel”, this would be a contender for it. TStar Wars: The Force Unleashed, though over-hyped as hell, was a solid game that had 2 self contained endings. So did they make a new character? Well no, they pulled some Alien Resurrection shit and made some clone story thing…Normally I’d recap the story but there isn’t much of one. Starkiller gets revived by the Empire (for some reason), escapes, goes to find his old friends and get revenge on Vader…oh and he dual wields lightsabers now because cool.

The graphics are admittedly an improvement and the free fall sections are kinda cool. Besides that this game is a waste, especially with a gameplay time of less than 4 hours without the padding of cut scenes ( I tested this on hardest difficulty). Your abilities are severely limited compared to the first game and despite the gimmick of dual lightsabers, you don’t really get any cool combos or anything with them. The story is boring and the ends are convoluted as hell. In the end, I can’t say I recommend this game to anyone and may the gaming gods bring you glory and keep you away from this crap fire of a game.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

We’ve talked about plenty of Star Wars games on the blog from the critically acclaimed Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic to the controversial Star Wars Battlefront 2 (EA) and royally overlooked Star Wars Episode 3: The Game . Well before Jedi: Fallen Order, which I’m currently playing, the Force Unleashed was the hyped Jedi experience. So how does it hold up about a decade later?

The story begins as the newly established Empire begins crushing a uprising on Kashyyk, homeworld of the Wookies led by a runaway Jedi. Darth Vader himself faces the runaway and easily brings him near death until a child stops him him delivering the killing blow with the Force. Vader, seeing the young boy’s potential, takes him as his secret apprentice christened Starkiller. Starkiller grows into Vader’s personal Jedi hunter over the years, slaying some powerful Jedi and crushing the rebellion struggling to form, until the Emperor discovers Vader’s secret and suddenly Starkiller’s vengeance is turned toward his former master…

For a game I played on PS2, this game has a lot to potentially offer but there’s some issues here and there. The story is solid but I liked the first half as Vader’s apprentice way more than the bland redemption story it becomes later. There are 2 endings and 2 different final bosses which is a nice touch. Starkiller is a pretty bland character so I can’t say he’s actually memorable. The gameplay feels much like the first God of War with a pretty impressive ability to use the Force to interact with the environment, use lightning, and a host of other OP abilities. The game gets a bit overboard with the QTEs during the boss fights which gets a bit irritating and sometimes the controls can be a little less than graceful so you will get some bullshit deaths here and there. Character customization is pretty nice with a variety of lightsaber colors and decently cool skins. In the end, while I don’t think it was worth the super hype, it was certainly a solid game worth playing. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragonball Z: Resurrection F

dbz F

Frieza, one of the Dragonball Z series greatest and cruelest villains, is in hell. Tortured and angry, his existence is torment. One of his devout followers summons his returns to lead his forsaken army and continue his universal tyranny but Frieza has something else in mind: revenge. Frieza, who has never trained, commits and strives towards his true potential. Meanwhile Goku and Vegeta are training with Beerus and Whise, mastering SS God Blue form when Frieza visits Earth with the strongest and massive army he’s ever assembled, causing the Z fighters to reunite after many years. Once again Goku and Frieza face off, but this time Frieza has a power unlike anything Goku has seen: Gold Frieza!

I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings on this movie but overall it’s pretty good. While I was against it at first, it was nice seeing Frieza become relevant again, although Gold Frieza is kinda lame in my opinion. My favorite thing about the movie was seeing some of the classic Z Fighters back in action again like Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, and Tien. I did love seeing Goku and Frieza’s rematch as well as Vegeta and Frieza’s. What pissed me off was the end result; I’m going to be the first to say, the ending fully makes sense in the context of the characters but I couldn’t help thinking it was cheap. In the end, it is above average anime film and it’s got some great fights but a poop ending. May the gaming gods bring you glory.