Just finished watching the series Robots in Disguise finally. Took me awhile to find the time to work through it.
I liked it in the end. It took me a few episodes to get moving through it. It was nice to see actual transformations on the bots for a change. It looks like there was actually an effort to have them animated in such a way that you can see them transform. Unlike some of the newer shows where it goes so fast, or blurs or morphs and just doesn't look right.
The stories were about on par with G1, pretty simple and straight forward. But they did have a bunch of nice characters. Skybite turned out to be a lot more likable to me than when it started. And the show as interested me into getting a handful of the toys if I can find them priced right. Especially Brave Maximus. With any luck I will be able to start shopping around for him sometime next year.
Animation was good, and voices were ok. And the kids weren't nearly as annoying as I expected. At least not close to annoying as I was finding them in Armada.
Overall, good show. Was well worth seeing.
3 stars out of 5
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Orcs and Elves
Picked up a used DS title from EBGames this week. I seem to remember reading a good review of it sometime ago. And it was on for about $2.65 so what the hell..
It turns out the game has iD and EA attached to it. And started out as a cell phone game several years ago. It's based on something called the Doom RPG engine, which I had never heard of.
The game as it stands seems to be (In my memory)a throwback to the old SSI Eye of the Beholder games I played back in the early 90s. A corridor dungeon crawler. You move from space to space, and fight monsters with a variety of items and magic.
The game is quite fun, and I wish there had been a handful of sequels. Apparently there was at least one, but never made it over to the DS. You don't get to pick or choose anything about yourself. So much more could have been done with a few classes, and races tossed in. And expanded random dungeons and loot.
When I first played it, it reminded me very much of Major Mudd. Back in the day I played a lot of that game, with a graphical UI over top of it. Not too mention even further back with Bards Tale on the C64. Combat is turn based which is great, all the real time twitch based stuff that is so prevalent these days isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I've been looking to see if there are any more 'Retro' fantasy, dungeon crawlers. But I haven't had a whole lot of luck. So, I have been playing O&E a little slower now so I don't finish too quickly.
4 out of 5 Stars
of Retro fun
It turns out the game has iD and EA attached to it. And started out as a cell phone game several years ago. It's based on something called the Doom RPG engine, which I had never heard of.
The game as it stands seems to be (In my memory)a throwback to the old SSI Eye of the Beholder games I played back in the early 90s. A corridor dungeon crawler. You move from space to space, and fight monsters with a variety of items and magic.
The game is quite fun, and I wish there had been a handful of sequels. Apparently there was at least one, but never made it over to the DS. You don't get to pick or choose anything about yourself. So much more could have been done with a few classes, and races tossed in. And expanded random dungeons and loot.
When I first played it, it reminded me very much of Major Mudd. Back in the day I played a lot of that game, with a graphical UI over top of it. Not too mention even further back with Bards Tale on the C64. Combat is turn based which is great, all the real time twitch based stuff that is so prevalent these days isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I've been looking to see if there are any more 'Retro' fantasy, dungeon crawlers. But I haven't had a whole lot of luck. So, I have been playing O&E a little slower now so I don't finish too quickly.
4 out of 5 Stars
of Retro fun
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Green Lantern The Series
I also watched the first episode of the new Green Lantern series. It was pretty good. It's too bad that with the budget they had for the live action movie they couldn't so so well. Or maybe the animation dept. should have got the live action budget and we could have had possibly 15 seasons or something of the animated series.
It looks to be all CG, which when I saw previews I was kinda worried about. But in motion it looks great. Voices were well done, and they seem to have something interesting going on.
I am pretty much in no way familiar with Green Lantern lore let alone I was Marvel and Image growing up. So the whole thing with the different Lanterns is all new to me. I only heard about that vaguely from other people when I saw the live action movie. So having Red Lanterns wasn't a surprise, but I don't know much about them or the other colors.
But after seeing this 45 min episode I can't wait to see more. Very much looking forward to it.
It looks to be all CG, which when I saw previews I was kinda worried about. But in motion it looks great. Voices were well done, and they seem to have something interesting going on.
I am pretty much in no way familiar with Green Lantern lore let alone I was Marvel and Image growing up. So the whole thing with the different Lanterns is all new to me. I only heard about that vaguely from other people when I saw the live action movie. So having Red Lanterns wasn't a surprise, but I don't know much about them or the other colors.
But after seeing this 45 min episode I can't wait to see more. Very much looking forward to it.
Thundercats 2011
Been watching the new series based on the old 80s cartoon, Thundercats. I can say that I don't recall much of the original. And I've only seen a handful of them in recent months on Teletoon Retro. And I'm not too impressed with it at all.
But the new series is pretty good. The animation is fantastic, voice acting is good. And story wise it's ok. About what you would expect for this type of show for the audience their aiming for. I find that Star Wars The Clone Wars has better stories. But that could be just that the Science Fiction / Fantasy of Star Wars appeals to me more.
So far the new series is up to 11 episodes and hopefully get's picked up for a new season. I know I liked GI Joe Renegades and it has apparently been cancelled.
So don't let any possible negative thoughts of the original stop you from checking out the new series.
But the new series is pretty good. The animation is fantastic, voice acting is good. And story wise it's ok. About what you would expect for this type of show for the audience their aiming for. I find that Star Wars The Clone Wars has better stories. But that could be just that the Science Fiction / Fantasy of Star Wars appeals to me more.
So far the new series is up to 11 episodes and hopefully get's picked up for a new season. I know I liked GI Joe Renegades and it has apparently been cancelled.
So don't let any possible negative thoughts of the original stop you from checking out the new series.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Once Upon A Time
A new series that premiered here last weekend.
The show seems to revolve around the idea that all the old Faerie tales were true, and they did happen. But the characters are under a curse and now living in modern times with no memory of their past or the events they were associated with.
It may not sound all that great, especially since I just re-read that above paragraph. But the show seems to have something about it, that kept me interested for the first episode so far.
I like the cast, and at first I thought that this might be more of a kids show. Since it debuted here on a Sunday night. But once the episode was over, I definitely don't think that would be the case. At least for kids younger than their teen years anyway.
The show has its fair share of darkness about it. From creepy characters, to the apparent death of Prince Charming at the hands of the black knights.
So, I am definitely interested to see where this show goes in future episodes. With some of the other new shows I've been watching this fall. There seems to be more interesting on this year than usual.
The show seems to revolve around the idea that all the old Faerie tales were true, and they did happen. But the characters are under a curse and now living in modern times with no memory of their past or the events they were associated with.
It may not sound all that great, especially since I just re-read that above paragraph. But the show seems to have something about it, that kept me interested for the first episode so far.
I like the cast, and at first I thought that this might be more of a kids show. Since it debuted here on a Sunday night. But once the episode was over, I definitely don't think that would be the case. At least for kids younger than their teen years anyway.
The show has its fair share of darkness about it. From creepy characters, to the apparent death of Prince Charming at the hands of the black knights.
So, I am definitely interested to see where this show goes in future episodes. With some of the other new shows I've been watching this fall. There seems to be more interesting on this year than usual.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Real Steel
Real Steel the new big CG Boxing Robot movie with Hugh Jackman made it's launch this weekend.
I can say that I wasn't expecting it too be all that good. The early trailers weren't so hot. And it wasn't until the last month or so that we finally got some trailers that actually made the movie look like it was worth going to.
The movie worked well enough, they tried to have it setup as a father and son movie with the boxing mixed in there.
My biggest problem with the movie, and where the suspension of disbelief failed to take hold was in the world that the movie was set in.
It's supposed to be 2027 if I remember right, and we now have these 10 foot tall 1000 pound robots, that are able to balance, and walk, run and fight without falling down. They are controlled by remote control or voice command. Yet, the world around them seems to be still frozen in the world of today circa 2005.
If you take the robots away, and Jackmans futuristic truck away, then the movie could have walked right out of 1995 even. The world doesn't support the story it's trying to tell.
Especially when they are doing fights for cash, who even has cash these days.. Jackman has this iPhone 15 he uses, and yet they have no way to transfer e-cash or anything else. They still use cash. Even when they got their first League fight they still seem to get paid in a wad of cash (I could understand the underground fights still using cash, but official league fights??)
And these are robots, you would think that the operators would have designed some more moves for them. They aren't restricted to anatomical human movements. And we are never really informed about the rules of the fights. Shouldn't the bigger 'bots be more heavily armored and ridiculously stronger?? And in such, there would be no way a smaller weaker bot is going to beat a bigger 'bot.
Reminds me a Star Trek paradox with their ships. The bigger the ship, the bigger the energy supply. The bigger the energy supply, the stronger the shields and weapons. There is no advantage really to have anything other than the biggest ships.
But Real Steel never bothers to explain any rules of the game to us, he just throws his bots into fights. Which in itself, seems a little ridiculous. We are led to believe he's been around the block a few times. And yet he seems to be repeating the same stupid mistakes time and time again. Which would lead us to believe he was a moron, so I don't know what you'd have to call it. But when the boy is on control he knows what he's doing. Now, I realize that it can be easier to be level when looking at something else. But, he wasn't new at this. It seems to be implied he's been doing this for years. He should have learned by now, especially with Bailey reminding him and learned. Or gone broke been killed long before now.
So, as always it's in the details. And these little details caused me to never quite achieve the level of suspension to fully enjoy the movie. It was a decent movie, but something I could have waited for DVD for. And hopefully we never see a sequel.
If you want to see good movie about a sport, underground fights and the trying to get into the league. Go and rent 'The Blood of Heroes' was a fantastic movie back in the 80s.
2.5 stars out of 5
I can say that I wasn't expecting it too be all that good. The early trailers weren't so hot. And it wasn't until the last month or so that we finally got some trailers that actually made the movie look like it was worth going to.
The movie worked well enough, they tried to have it setup as a father and son movie with the boxing mixed in there.
My biggest problem with the movie, and where the suspension of disbelief failed to take hold was in the world that the movie was set in.
It's supposed to be 2027 if I remember right, and we now have these 10 foot tall 1000 pound robots, that are able to balance, and walk, run and fight without falling down. They are controlled by remote control or voice command. Yet, the world around them seems to be still frozen in the world of today circa 2005.
If you take the robots away, and Jackmans futuristic truck away, then the movie could have walked right out of 1995 even. The world doesn't support the story it's trying to tell.
Especially when they are doing fights for cash, who even has cash these days.. Jackman has this iPhone 15 he uses, and yet they have no way to transfer e-cash or anything else. They still use cash. Even when they got their first League fight they still seem to get paid in a wad of cash (I could understand the underground fights still using cash, but official league fights??)
And these are robots, you would think that the operators would have designed some more moves for them. They aren't restricted to anatomical human movements. And we are never really informed about the rules of the fights. Shouldn't the bigger 'bots be more heavily armored and ridiculously stronger?? And in such, there would be no way a smaller weaker bot is going to beat a bigger 'bot.
Reminds me a Star Trek paradox with their ships. The bigger the ship, the bigger the energy supply. The bigger the energy supply, the stronger the shields and weapons. There is no advantage really to have anything other than the biggest ships.
But Real Steel never bothers to explain any rules of the game to us, he just throws his bots into fights. Which in itself, seems a little ridiculous. We are led to believe he's been around the block a few times. And yet he seems to be repeating the same stupid mistakes time and time again. Which would lead us to believe he was a moron, so I don't know what you'd have to call it. But when the boy is on control he knows what he's doing. Now, I realize that it can be easier to be level when looking at something else. But, he wasn't new at this. It seems to be implied he's been doing this for years. He should have learned by now, especially with Bailey reminding him and learned. Or gone broke been killed long before now.
So, as always it's in the details. And these little details caused me to never quite achieve the level of suspension to fully enjoy the movie. It was a decent movie, but something I could have waited for DVD for. And hopefully we never see a sequel.
If you want to see good movie about a sport, underground fights and the trying to get into the league. Go and rent 'The Blood of Heroes' was a fantastic movie back in the 80s.
2.5 stars out of 5
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Terra Nova
The new TV series that started last week with a two hour series premiere. Spielbergs next stab at the Jurassic Park franchise shall we say without going back to the movie series that is slowly being run into the ground, arguably since the original. Being that JP2 didn't have a lot of redeeming qualities to it.
Anyway, now we seem to be 140 odd years into the future, and the surface of the earth is becoming unlivable due to what seems to be pollution and overpopulation. Now, a time machine has been invented based around some kind of temporal rift, and they now choose groups that will go back to 85 million years in the past to start a new colony of man. I kind of had a flashback to the original Battlestar Galactica as I wrote that. But anyway, at this point the whole thing doesn't sound very interesting to me.
We discover throughout the two hours that there is a split between the colonists that have been going back. We have what we could call, the loyalists and the Sixers. The Sixers have split off to form their own group, and seem to be operating at this point as raiders and bandits. And have some spies in the camp of the loyalists.
Few other points we discover is that the son of the camp commander is missing in the wild, and that there is a waterfall 'Zone' that is off limits that has some strange writing, that may or may not have anything to do with this missing son. I should mention, that smartly one of the characters points out that they aren't really in the past, but apparently some alternate dimension of Earth. Or else anything they do could alter the future. And by the end of the two hours we find out that this may not be true..
Now that is the most interesting aspect of the whole thing for me. They think they are in an alternate Earths past.. But if they really aren't, than I look forward to seeing the repercussions in the future. With them not being able to get resupplied, or more people. Or even what may be sent back that they don't expect because of the changes. Because other than that I don't find this show to be all that interesting, but for the new Dino of the week. And I should mention it's established that once you go back you cannot return to the future. It's a one way trip.
Not, it's only been two episodes, shown together as a movie type thing. And I'm willing to give it a season to see how it goes. But, if this thing is really as expensive as I've read (Most expensive TV Pilot ever made) than will anyone else?? In this day and age where shows get canned after a few episodes if the ratings are low.. But then the cost may work for them in this case. With so much invested the suits may not want to pull the plug if they can wring a buck out of it.
In the end I will throw out a prediction, they should have used the basic premise of moving a colony back in time to the Dino Era as a reboot of the movies. And went from there. I don't see this as much of a TV show, but Stargate or Sanctuary with Dinosaurs in place of the Go'Auld or Monsters every week and some different trappings. But I guess most shows are like that, you just change the backgrounds and rename the monsters.
Oh, and props to the offhand remarks about getting used the past atmosphere being so high in oxygen. They could have been referring to their present being so bad. But I know I saw this is a documentary somewhere. That the Oxygen levels were so high then that it would have been a problem for Humans adapted to our present. And one reason why we don't have such large creatures or giant Insects anymore.
Anyway, now we seem to be 140 odd years into the future, and the surface of the earth is becoming unlivable due to what seems to be pollution and overpopulation. Now, a time machine has been invented based around some kind of temporal rift, and they now choose groups that will go back to 85 million years in the past to start a new colony of man. I kind of had a flashback to the original Battlestar Galactica as I wrote that. But anyway, at this point the whole thing doesn't sound very interesting to me.
We discover throughout the two hours that there is a split between the colonists that have been going back. We have what we could call, the loyalists and the Sixers. The Sixers have split off to form their own group, and seem to be operating at this point as raiders and bandits. And have some spies in the camp of the loyalists.
Few other points we discover is that the son of the camp commander is missing in the wild, and that there is a waterfall 'Zone' that is off limits that has some strange writing, that may or may not have anything to do with this missing son. I should mention, that smartly one of the characters points out that they aren't really in the past, but apparently some alternate dimension of Earth. Or else anything they do could alter the future. And by the end of the two hours we find out that this may not be true..
Now that is the most interesting aspect of the whole thing for me. They think they are in an alternate Earths past.. But if they really aren't, than I look forward to seeing the repercussions in the future. With them not being able to get resupplied, or more people. Or even what may be sent back that they don't expect because of the changes. Because other than that I don't find this show to be all that interesting, but for the new Dino of the week. And I should mention it's established that once you go back you cannot return to the future. It's a one way trip.
Not, it's only been two episodes, shown together as a movie type thing. And I'm willing to give it a season to see how it goes. But, if this thing is really as expensive as I've read (Most expensive TV Pilot ever made) than will anyone else?? In this day and age where shows get canned after a few episodes if the ratings are low.. But then the cost may work for them in this case. With so much invested the suits may not want to pull the plug if they can wring a buck out of it.
In the end I will throw out a prediction, they should have used the basic premise of moving a colony back in time to the Dino Era as a reboot of the movies. And went from there. I don't see this as much of a TV show, but Stargate or Sanctuary with Dinosaurs in place of the Go'Auld or Monsters every week and some different trappings. But I guess most shows are like that, you just change the backgrounds and rename the monsters.
Oh, and props to the offhand remarks about getting used the past atmosphere being so high in oxygen. They could have been referring to their present being so bad. But I know I saw this is a documentary somewhere. That the Oxygen levels were so high then that it would have been a problem for Humans adapted to our present. And one reason why we don't have such large creatures or giant Insects anymore.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Drive
Every now and again a movie comes along that evokes the mood and flavor of a film that could have walked out of another era.
This movie reminded me very much a drama / revenge type of movie that would have been right at home in 1981 or around there.
It didn't feel Hollywood at all, and I wasn't aware of the background of the movie or it's director before I went in.
I was recommended to avoid the movie several times before I went in, people didn't like the movie, etc etc..
But I liked the movie, as mentioned it was just like a film from another era. And in no way seemed to fit the typical Hollywood mold. Whether this was what turned people off, or the fact that it had a 'R' rating and was being described as an action movie (Which I wouldn't describe it as) and were disappointed when they didn't get it, I don't know.
But when there is violence, they don't shy away from it. It's quick, and brutal. And even though there weren't any real big stars, I was more than happy with the cast. A cast who could act. Even though Goslings character was pretty dry, the two mobsters and the old mechanic (From Breaking Bad) were great.
Definitely recommended. But if you don't like the style, you will be disappointed. And in that regard reminds of M. Nights Unbreakable.. I got a lot of bad recommendations about that one too, and people seemed to be going looking for the Sixth Sense 2. And were upset when they didn't get it. And got a wholly different kind of movie altogether.
4 stars out of 5
This movie reminded me very much a drama / revenge type of movie that would have been right at home in 1981 or around there.
It didn't feel Hollywood at all, and I wasn't aware of the background of the movie or it's director before I went in.
I was recommended to avoid the movie several times before I went in, people didn't like the movie, etc etc..
But I liked the movie, as mentioned it was just like a film from another era. And in no way seemed to fit the typical Hollywood mold. Whether this was what turned people off, or the fact that it had a 'R' rating and was being described as an action movie (Which I wouldn't describe it as) and were disappointed when they didn't get it, I don't know.
But when there is violence, they don't shy away from it. It's quick, and brutal. And even though there weren't any real big stars, I was more than happy with the cast. A cast who could act. Even though Goslings character was pretty dry, the two mobsters and the old mechanic (From Breaking Bad) were great.
Definitely recommended. But if you don't like the style, you will be disappointed. And in that regard reminds of M. Nights Unbreakable.. I got a lot of bad recommendations about that one too, and people seemed to be going looking for the Sixth Sense 2. And were upset when they didn't get it. And got a wholly different kind of movie altogether.
4 stars out of 5
Contagion
Right off the top I will say that this movie reminded me a lot of the old original version of 'The Andromeda Strain'
It was like watching a documentary of sorts. It's not a gross out movie, or anything of the sort. It's a medical documentary / drama.
It was a good movie, but it's dialogue heavy, no action to speak of. And could almost be compared to a zombie movie (And some reviews have)if you think of the virus as the spread of the zombie horde infections, with the break down of society.
The part of the movie that seems to fall apart for me, is when we find out that something like 5% ( I don't remember the exact number that was mentioned) of the world was susceptible to the virus. Little hard to believe that modern society would collapse with that number. But then again, whenever there is a holiday you can't go to the grocery stores because of the people. You'd think they'd all starve if the store was closed for a day.
But then when you start to think that way, most people only have a few days to a week of supplies at home. And stores maybe a little more. And if trucks and supplies stop moving then things could rapidly spin out of control..
Which I guess is where this movies horror really is.
3.5 stars out of 5
It was like watching a documentary of sorts. It's not a gross out movie, or anything of the sort. It's a medical documentary / drama.
It was a good movie, but it's dialogue heavy, no action to speak of. And could almost be compared to a zombie movie (And some reviews have)if you think of the virus as the spread of the zombie horde infections, with the break down of society.
The part of the movie that seems to fall apart for me, is when we find out that something like 5% ( I don't remember the exact number that was mentioned) of the world was susceptible to the virus. Little hard to believe that modern society would collapse with that number. But then again, whenever there is a holiday you can't go to the grocery stores because of the people. You'd think they'd all starve if the store was closed for a day.
But then when you start to think that way, most people only have a few days to a week of supplies at home. And stores maybe a little more. And if trucks and supplies stop moving then things could rapidly spin out of control..
Which I guess is where this movies horror really is.
3.5 stars out of 5
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Upcoming Weekend
I was planning on going to see Apollo 18. I was looking forward to it, the trailers didn't look too too bad. And the premise sounded interesting. Am getting a little tired of the lost footage thing though..
Once I discovered that the release date had been moved something like 6 times this year, and that there were no advance copies or releases made available.. That's never a good sign. Obviously I know, that the mainstream reviews sometimes leave you scratching your head so what does it matter that no advances were made available.
That usually means that the studio knows the movie has problems in one way or another. And they want to make sure that word of mouth doesn't get around to kill it, before the droves rush that first weekend to spend their bucks.
So I ended up passing on it.
I plan to go and see Contagion this weekend. It looks pretty interesting.
Once I discovered that the release date had been moved something like 6 times this year, and that there were no advance copies or releases made available.. That's never a good sign. Obviously I know, that the mainstream reviews sometimes leave you scratching your head so what does it matter that no advances were made available.
That usually means that the studio knows the movie has problems in one way or another. And they want to make sure that word of mouth doesn't get around to kill it, before the droves rush that first weekend to spend their bucks.
So I ended up passing on it.
I plan to go and see Contagion this weekend. It looks pretty interesting.
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