The "J Reviews" - Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

Hey Guys!

Time for a movie review, i didnt did one of these in a long time and what better movie than "Batman vs Superman" so here we go:

There's a bit of spoiler here and there so I did minimize the spoilers to make more readable if people

First off, the screening itself was packed. I thought Star Wars was nuts, this took this to the next level. A Really cool to see so many people out to see Batman and Superman in a live action movie on big screen. I went in with a mix of hype/anticipation. I thought MoS was enjoyable in the last half. BvS is pretty dark, but there's humor here and there, way more then say MoS or Watchmen. 

Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman was pure awesome and dark. You can see he's traumatized by the events in the past, and he has some fantastic lines in general (Yes we see the whole parents thing again). Nobody should really be surprised that he was good with the role considering he's a solid actor, but I thought he was great. Versus Bale? That's a interesting question, because Affleck definitely regards Batman as a permanent part of his persona, while in Nolan series he eventually doesn't want Batman. In combat he's pretty much everything everyone would hope for from a film with Batman. I think he fought like the Arkham video games from a scene they showed. He's incredible in fights. Also the way Snyder records him in action, you can actually see him fighting unlike the Nolan films, which I'd imagine would make many people happy. He also gets a chance to use his detective skills, do not worry.

Also his relationship with Irons, who plays Alfred, is just wonderful in general. Irons was exceptional in the role (Its Jeremy Irons for christ's sake, of course he nailed the role) gets some witty lines and also gets pretty emotional later on. He didn't get a lot of screentime, just enough to be effective. Always passing advice to Batman.

Now we turn to Cavill. He didn't blow me away in MoS but in this film, weirdly I feel like he gets more to work with even with less screentime. It was the first time Superman actually feels like he's a character who deals with many issues to me. The blowback from the destruction in the last movie follows him in BvS, and everywhere he goes. He's now followed by cults, and plagued by newspapers and hearings (though the hearings are influenced by Luthor, we'll get to him in a bit). His relationship with Lois (played by Amy Adams) deserves mention here, even if not a lot of screentime. Definitely a time when Superman wishes he wasn't an alien and I felt a bit of sympathy for both of them.

Cavil and his interactions with Affleck, especially the fights, are truly something to behold. Definitely worth the price of a ticket in my opinion. I could swear some of the scenes are probably something straight out of a dark graphic novel. Their alternative personas do meet, helped along by Luthor as well.Who got more screentime? Batman or Superman? I'd say it was about equal, but it certainly did feel like Batman might have gotten slightly bit more.

Also, Wonder Woman, hell yes. Again, lots of concern about Gadot on the internet and in the industry (I heard a lot), but she did well. Her fight with Doomsday is great. For such little screentime, she was able to show that her character was diverse and interesting. Definitely left me looking forward to the Wonder Woman movie. 

Yeah, the Doomsday fight. The trinity do get a few shots of them looking badass together. If you love comic book films, again, go see this film for the fight scenes.

How's the world in the movies? Gotham City is definitely Gotham City. Obviously you don't see it for the whole film. Metropolis is still littered with destruction from MoS, so I'm glad they showed that instead of ignoring it. Whether the whole destruction angle felt thrown in at the last minute, I wouldn't know because it felt organic for Wayne to be pissed about it. Even gave you a 9/11 vibe.  

Oh man, the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful. Properly dark. Batman's theme especially felt super super super super dark almost to the point of repetition. MoS's theme is still there for Superman with a hint of more. Even Luthor had his own freaking soundtrack. A hint of playfulness and amusement. This part I thoroughly enjoyed. The sound design here is just fantastic, but will be mostly ignored sadly. Not a lot of people appreciate it in general. Lots of CGI destruction porn there, but definitely feels sort of toned down till the last act. The visuals are great overall for me, but this is rather opinion based.

I feel that Snyder did learn from his mistakes and the writing/dialogue definitely feels a lot better then Man of Steel. There are issues though. Juggling the characters is extremely difficult, especially for a film like this. I'm rather amazed Snyder even handled it alright. The film gets very frantic (especially towards the end), so to me the long running time flew by really quickly, but there's a few scenes they lets you breath.

So what did you think of this movie? Please let me know your thoughts about it.

Stay Cool. 

The "J Reviews" - Sonic Heroes

Hey Guys!

Here´s my review of the "Sonic Heroes", Hope you enjoy it.

The transition from 2D to 3D was a hard one for Sonic, and the series lost a lot of its focus in the process by trading in speed for action adventure elements and introducing an unnecessary and unnecessarily large supporting cast of characters. Sonic Heroes strips away a lot of the elements that slowed down the Sonic Adventure backpedals on a lot of the design decisions made in the Sonic Adventure games, and though it still exhibits many of the camera and control issues that vexed Sonic's previous forays into 3D, it's truer to its 2D roots than any other 3D Sonic game before it.

Sonic Heroes strips out a lot of the shooting and hunting stuff found in the Sonic Adventure games, but it retains the large cast of characters. The game gets away with this by giving you control of three characters at once and dividing the characters up into four different teams Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose, and Team Chaotix. Each team member has his or her own strengths, and your abilities as a team change depending on which character you have set as the team leader. The team members are color-coded for easy reference, so blue characters have the most speed, yellow characters can fly, and red characters can bust through blocks that are otherwise impenetrable. 

The game makes it easy to switch your team leader on the fly, and you can cycle through team members by simply pressing the X and Y buttons. There are times, such as when you're in the air, that you're unable to swap out your team leader, which can lead to some awkward moments. It generally works well, though, and once you've mastered the different team formation abilities, swapping out team leaders becomes like second nature. The inclusion of the four different teams, however, seems a bit pointless since the game is virtually identical for all four of the teams, save for some different story elements in between levels. To be blunt, no one cares about these peripheral characters that Sonic Team seems hell-bent on pushing on gamers. People play Sonic games to play as Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic Team also hasn't bothered to do much with the graphics engine that powered the Sonic Adventure games and now powers Sonic Heroes so the whole thing still looks like a glorified Dreamcast game. To its credit, though, the levels seem bigger than before, and the frame rate is rock-solid. The two-player game, which is basically a split-screen race through levels from the single-player game, doesn't run quite as smoothly, though at least the choppiness is consistent. It's not a technically exciting game to look at, but what it lacks in polygons, high-res textures, complex particle effects, and bump mapping, it makes up for with consistent art design and an exceptionally vibrant color palette that lets you know you're playing a Sonic the Hedgehog game, even when you're standing still.

When Sonic Heroes works the way it's supposed to, the action is fast and exciting. Unfortunately, the game suffers from a problematic, finicky camera, occasionally spastic controls, and some bad clipping. The camera is largely stationary, and since the action in Sonic Heroes doesn't revolve around wide-open 3D environments, this works most of the time. But, on the off chance that you want to get a better perspective of your surroundings before you make a potentially death-defying leap, the camera is pretty uncooperative and will snap to a first-person perspective if you try to move it more than a few degrees, which doesn't necessarily give you the best view of your surroundings.

Sonic Heroes plays the nostalgia card heavily in the aural design, which features loads of familiar sounds, from the whirling speed-up sound to the different chimes heard when you pick up or lose rings. Of course, there's also a bevy of classic Sonic tunes. This sort of heavy reliance on old sound elements may seem a little cheap, but these sounds are inexorably linked to the Sonic experience, and ultimately, they still work. 

In fact, the biggest misstep in the sound design for Sonic Heroes is all of the new voice acting that was recorded for the game. There's a lot of preteen anime-grade voice work here, with Tails' squeaky, cutesy voice being the most ingratiating. However, since every single character will shout one of three or four different exclamations every time he or she executes an attack, you'll learn to abhor all of them in good time.

What's most disappointing is that the problems in Sonic Heroes which include the camera, the controls, and the clipping--are the kinds of things that could be remedied with a few extra months of fine-tuning. In the end, though, it's still a purer, more action-packed Sonic experience than either of the Sonic Adventure games. 

If you were able to overlook the problems found in those games, Sonic Heroes is easy to recommend. However, if you haven't already been acclimated to the quirks of the 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games, approach this one with a bit of caution.

I have tried to review it the more neutral way possible and i will try to do so for the next two games (SPECIALLY THE NEXT TWO GAMES that are of the type "like it or not" games and that unfortunatly helped destroy the sonic fanbase apart that probably was already after sonic and the secret rings and sonic genesis)

Stay Cool!

The "J Reviews" - RWBY Volume 3

Hey Guys!

I´m honest, I do like this serie to a extreme (not like One Piece for example) but for some minutes let me turn off my "Rwby fan" glasses. So lets get to it.

Eager to check out crazy, over-the-top fight scenes with imaginative weapons? Well, RWBY Volume 3 certainly has that, as well as a healthy helping of sadness and despair (wich i like).

With the unfortunate death of series creator and main fight choreographer Monty Oum, the rest of the team has had some impossible shoes to fill. Expectedly, the fight scenes in Volume 3 are a clear step down from past seasons something that sadly plagues a season that spends a large portion of its run time on a fighting tournament. Fights penned by Monty Oum tended to tell a story or give character insight. This is largely missing from the tournament fights of Volume 3. Instead, we are treated to little more than fight choreography with flashy effects.

RWBY Volume 3 is the first truly dark chapter we have seen in RWBY thus far. It starts somewhat weakly as your standard “tournament arc” of a fighting story. However, the back-end of the season serves as a climax to everything before it as all the villains plans come to a head. Along the way, we learn more about our main cast and see them continue to develop as they near adulthood.

Ruby herself is a rather static character: noble, innocent, and pure. While the rest of the cast struggle with becoming adults, Ruby is only 15. So instead of watching her change this season, we see why she is the way she is namely, the introduction of her uncle Qrow. In Ruby’s eyes, Qrow is a classic rogue adventurer. He travels the world going on adventures and helping people, which is exactly what Ruby wants to do.

Yang’s big character notes come as she is forced to deal with the consequences of being outsmarted rather than outfought. While we, the audience, know what is really going on, Yang has to deal with the idea that the world views her as either a sadistic bully or a psychotic. When even Blake reveals her doubts, Yang is on the edge of having her spirit broken a break that is completed with the loss she suffers in the season’s climax.

Blake, on the other hand, continues to struggle with her past, her former abusive relationship with White Fang leader, Adam, and her tendency to be a scaredy cat (pun intended). Running away from her problems, or rather the fear that she will run away from her problems, rules Blake’s actions. She sees herself as a coward and tries to prove that she isn’t one. And, in the climax, this fault is clearly her undoing when she enters into a fight she has no chance of winning.

While Weiss wants to be a protector of all, she is, nonetheless, prejudiced against Faunus because of the terrorist attacks against her friends and family when she was growing up. She hates Faunus but knows that one of her best friends is one, and a former terrorist at that. And while Weiss has made great strides in accepting Faunus since season one, prejudice isn’t something that can just be turned off. Yet, in the climax of this season, Weiss’ sense of right and wrong finally overcomes her prejudice as she selflessly puts herself between a Faunus classmate she barely knows and an incoming mortal blow.

While last season focused mainly on Jaune when it came to characters outside the core team, this season focuses on Pyrrha. From day one, Pyrrha has been the golden child of the academy, living up to any and all expectations. But unfortunately, this has crafted her into a person who feels the need to live up to said expectations. Over the course of Volume 3, she is forced to choose between what others expect of her to sacrifice her very spirit to become a living goddess; and what she truly wants to become a huntress and live alongside Jaune.

One of the minor yet nagging problems in RWBY Volume 3 is the transitional scenes that serve to set up the fight scenes and other cool moments. The worst of these involves a group of robots turning on Weiss and Blake. The villain-controlled robots shoot at the two girls, causing them to fall to the ground in surprise. Instead of continuing to shoot (and kill them), the robots instead stop firing, move in to surround the girls, then wait for the two to get up and arm themselves before the battle continues. 

Of course, the darkest moments come with the deaths of (at least) two prominent supporting characters. The first of these deaths is Penny. Narratively, the point of this death is to add tension and danger to the story, if Penny can die, then no one is safe. However, to people familiar with this trope, the tension is actually lowered. With the “shock death” out of the way, remaining characters are usually safe. Moreover, while graphic, Penny’s death almost feels like the cheapest possible version of the trope since, after all, Penny is a robot and that calls the permanence of her “death” into question.

While Ruby and our other heroes have faced victories and defeats alike over the past two seasons, Volume 3 is the first truly dark chapter in the story. The latter half of the season has psychological breakdowns, torture, and dismemberment. (Side note: Blake’s decapitation and Yang’s dismemberment are both perfectly, artfully framed and wonderfully shocking, again thanks to the greatly improved direction this season.) Of course, the darkest moments come with the deaths of (at least) two prominent supporting characters.

What’s great, though, about this “shock death” trope is how it leaves us totally unprepared for the second death: Pyrrha’s. From her introduction in the first season, it was more than a little obvious Pyrrha would die after all, she is based on a legendary figure famous for dying (Achilles). However, the death of Penny only two episodes before called this into question as the “shock death” was already out of the way. Even as Pyrrha heads into her suicidal battle against Cinder, it seems like she will somehow make it out alive, especially once Ruby and Weiss head off to rescue her. Because of this, the scene has real shock and weight when Pyrrha is brutally killed in front of Ruby.

Going forth into their fourth season, the creators of RWBY need to be careful. They have created a lore-filled world with numerous unique weapons in addition to various forms of magic. While there are clearly rules behind each, many have not been explained in the show proper, though many have been in podcasts and live events. While the show is comprehensible at current to casual viewers, it is quickly approaching the point where this will no longer be true. While godlike powers and crazy weapons are no doubt cool, without clearly defined limits, tension and drama can quickly disappear from a story built around combat. If you don’t know what’s possible, you can’t know if you should be worried or not.

Although the fight choreography is an (understandable) step down from previous seasons, RWBY Volume 3 is a marked improvement in both story and cinematography. It is a strong ending to RWBY’s first arc, bringing together past seasons’ lingering plotlines and showing that there are real, mortal stakes for our heroes.

Tell me what you thought of rwby volume 3 and what do you expect from volume 4.

Be cool!