So THIS is the Super Mario Bros. 2 game that was never brought to the states either because it was too tough or too much like SMB1, right? All I can technically say is… good move.
Continue reading “GameFAQs Review – Super Mario Bros. 2 “The Lost Levels” (Famicom Disk System)”
Highlander: Endgame is the fourth Highlander film in the series and also serves as a continuation of the Highlander television series that concluded its run after six seasons. The film sees the film series’ Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) and the television show’s Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) teaming up to face off against a dangerous new Immortal enemy in Jacob Kell (Bruce Payne) in what the trailers showed to be a completely different film from what ultimately hit theatres… and then would take yet another different form when Endgame eventually hit home video.
Endgame is an interesting beast of sorts. You show trailers for a film featuring a villain capable of splitting in half and performance cheap-end special effects of sorts… none of that stuff made it to the “final” cut that hit theaters. And apparently, the film was poorly received to such a degree that they did a new edit for home video. The DVD version, which is what I’ve watched, even includes an earlier cut to see how things went from there to here. Clearly, the people behind the film wanted to make a version that would appease most people, if not the most ardent of Highlander fans.
The thing is that Endgame ALMOST works… and to be fair, there are some bits that I like about the film. Once again, the fight scenes are top-notch; probably some of the best seen on film and it also helps that Adrian Paul holds his own quite nicely – six years of swordfighting on television will do that to you. The flashback sequences highlighting the relationship between the MacLeod clansmen are refreshing pieces compared to the present day’s modern drab circumstances, which makes the duo’s final confrontation all the more depressing.
Endgame was meant to be the swan song for Christopher Lambert’s Connor MacLeod as he passes the cinematic katana (so to speak) to his television counterpart. And it’s a bit of a sad end – seeing his adopted daughter die in a bomb explosion (nice that they brought back the actress from the first film to reprise her role here for the explicit purpose of getting killed off – good job, guys!) and resigning himself in a metal box for years… so clearly there’s no Mario Van Peebles or General Katana in this guy’s future anytime soon… only to be forced out as the only survivor of said sanctuary… and honestly, when the end does come – I won’t say how but it’s not hard to figure out – the whole thing comes across as depressing. Whether that fits the character as a whole is a debate for another time, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Other than that, the overall plot leaves much to be desired. There’s Duncan’s fawning over an immortal ex-wife, the villain’s (Kell) continued pursuit and psychological torture of the elder MacLeod over… something or other, the limited use of Duncan’s allies Methos and Joe Lawson (who, amazingly enough, do NOT get killed off – that’s progress, I suppose), and… man, I don’t know. There are ideas here and there that I can see almost working, but for some reason, it doesn’t click and makes me wonder if they really needed to make this movie in the first place. The dialogue here is pretty bad and not necessarily in a cheese sort of way. This is the sort of dialogue that feels like it was written by crack writers of a wrestling show who have no clue how to write dialogue.
Speaking of which, Endgame features a bit role played by WWE Superstar and multi-time champion Edge (or as those behind the scenes call him, THE EDGE – which is honestly a better name for him anyway). He’s fine in it and not quite in as big a role as some adverts would have you believe.
Highlander: Endgame is a sad, sad movie no matter how hard they try to revamp it. It is a sad end to the story of Connor MacLeod, it is a drab continuation of the Highlander television series and a generally poor passing of the torch story in terms of handing the movie reigns over to Duncan, and… honestly, it’s another example of how there probably should have been only one.
If there is only one positive that could be levied out of this, however, it’s that I like Adrian Paul’s Duncan enough to give the TV show a shot one of these days. And that would probably all the Highlander fix I’d need going forward because I shudder to think how bad the next film would be.
Space Jam was a movie I saw in an empty theater with my brother and someone else. It was one of the first times I’ve been to a movie that has (almost) no one in it. That kind of memory sticks out more than the movie itself.
But as far as the movie goes… I thought it was alright.
Story goes that the Looney Tunes characters are being challenged by alien basketball players who want to beat the past out of the ‘toons, so they enlist the help of one Michael Jordan, who was in the middle of a baseball career in between stints in the basketball court. The movie is done in the same way as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where Michael Jordan himself would mingle with the ‘Tunes in their hand-drawn cartoon world and eventually vice versa would happen. Obviously, years of technological advancement has made the technique a bit more seamless than before, but it’s not the only film to pull it off. The whole thing looks fine as a result. The animation is pretty smooth, the voice acting is true to the characters, and Michael Jordan… well, he’s Michael Jordan and he does Michael Jordan better than anyone else… even Michael Jordan.
Space Jam turned out to be a pretty enjoyable film and Bill Murray even shows up to share some of his comedic magic… because you sure as shit ain’t gettin’ it from ol’ MJ. Still, fun for the whole family and all that. Well worth a revisit these days.
Rollerball is a remake of an old 1975 film starring James Caan. I wasn’t remotely aware of that until I came across a VHS copy of the film at a video shop somewhere. While I never saw that original film, I have – unfortunately – seen this remake.
There’s no way ’round this. This movie absolutely sucks.
It’s an EXTREME sports movie involving a variation of roller derby (you know, that sport that airs on the ol’ NASHVILLE NETWORK) and a ball. I generally don’t care for these sorts of films, which makes you wonder why I’d even watch the damn thing, let alone review it. But even if I’m not interested in the sport, I can get into a sports movie if it’s compelling enough. I enjoy good stories more than anything. I get none of that here.
The acting is absolutely abysmal. Like the cast seems to be phoning it in and are just there to collect a paycheque. I suppose I can’t blame them if they had a shit script to work with. Let me put it to you another way. The two best actors in this entire film was Shane McMahon in a two second silent cameo and also Paul Heyman, who plays the bombastic announcer. Those are your best actors in this film and one of them is barely there for a cup of coffee. I sat through this whole movie for THOSE two. Something is seriously wrong here.
Visually, this looks like a mess. There’s nothing visually appealing here – even the token post- apocalyptic features have some reasonable visuals. More emphasis is spent on close-ups and horrible acting than on the sport itself. In fact, the pacing is so bad that I often lose track of what’s going on, but I’m too scared to go back and rewatch because that means subjecting myself to this horrible mess. This is just really ugly. An eyesore to say the least… especially in regards to those HORRENDOUS night vision sequences. It seems like the longer I watch this, with each passing moment in time, I can somehow feel my soul wither away as I attempt to follow the excruciatingly awful storyline.
Rollerball was a dreadful film to sit through. I need to stop watching movies based on the fact that people I know from other properties will appear in them, especially if those movies are going to suck the proverbial meat missile. Avoid at all costs.
About a week ago, I passed by this new arcade near my house and noticed a multi-game arcade mission. You know, the ones that got a bunch of games in them. Well, I noticed that one of the games featured was the original Street Fighter game. Although I had played the game once before, it was a long time ago and I was pretty incompetent at the time. So, here was my chance to try the game out.
Continue reading “GameFAQs Review – Street Fighter (Arcade)”
Almost everyone in some capacity has heard of “X-Men”. The name is just familiar to the average joe as it is the comic joe. If they’ve not seen the comic, they must have heard of the movie, or the cartoon… or the action figures and collectables. But let’s stay with the subject: this is a review on New X-Men #123, now featuring a new penciller and a new painted cover. Although I rather liked the art in preceding issues, this isn’t much of a bad thing.
The deal with New X-Men is that it is continuity-conscious. In other words, you need to the book regularly in order to keep up with what’s going on. This is a standard of the modern-day comic, but it’s not like you have to read every book in the genre of a book every week in order to follow. New X-Men have their own self-contained continuity and it’ll be interesting to see how long this keeps up. In terms of the writing, it’s a good read. The issue takes a break from the usual fighting evil mutants or anti-mutant groups and presents us with a first step to building a world where both normal humans and mutants can co-exist, something that is rarely seen in an X-Men book. Of course, the art is pretty good in this issue too.
To be honest with you, I can’t really find anything wrong with the issue. It’s not a perfect book (no matter how many times such a claim is made, you’ll find a few people saying otherwise), but is actually a great read. Again, the series has a continuity of its own, so anybody just jumping in or anyone who took a hiatus in collecting comics for the reading may get a little lost. To those people, I say you should check out some of the previous issues if you want to know what’s going on.
Again, New X-Men 123 is a good read. If you’re into X-Men, chances are you would obviously want to get the book. If you want a book just for the hell of it, this is also a good choice. But if you’re one who wants to get into the series, you should get the issues that precede this one because if you don’t, you’ll probably be lost… Worth your cash.
There’s a new Star Wars movie coming out in May… but you already knew that, didn’t you? And you probably know that with a new Star Wars, comes tie-in material such as a novel, toys, and comics. One of the comics includes a one-shot featuring Jango Fett, one of the new characters introduced in “Attack of the Clones” and apparently the guy whose son will make life a living hell for the Rebels in the original Star Wars trilogy. Although I like to say that the set-up is similar to the Boba Fett one-shots, that isn’t the case… there are some things that set this apart from that group.
Most of the Star Wars comics that comes from Dark Horse tend to be well done and this one is no exceptions. It’s hard to tell whether the characters are accurately portrayed compared to “Attack of the Clones” since the movie isn’t out yet, but considering Dark Horse’s track record for SW comics that are true to the films, it’s a safe bet that’s what we might see in the movie. The book features both Jango Fett the bounty hunter-for-hire and Jango Fett the father to his son, Boba. It shows that the elder Fett does have a soft side when it comes to family and the writer does a good job of showing this side. It’s something that sets it apart from the Boba Fett one-shots where the guy’s all business. You don’t see Boba’s family life, you don’t see Boba in his spare time, you don’t even see his face. With Jango, it’s not all business. The guy has a life outside of being a hardass and has a son to care for.
The artwork and paints are alright, considering everything looks the way they’re supposed to, although it’s nothing to brag about. There are nice color choices that nicely depict the environments and the bar fight looked good, but again, it’s not the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen. It’s the typical quality that goes with that art style.
There isn’t really much to hate about this book. You can’t go wrong with a guy who gets paid to kill people, steal stuff, and blow everything up. If there is only one thing I have to complain about, it’s the fact that the book focuses on a character that precedes a popular character (Boba Fett) of the Star Wars mythos. It doesn’t really seem to a good reason to do a one-shot solo on a guy we haven’t even seen in a full movie, so it’s hard to tell if a character’s been portrayed accurately from the source. This is only a minor complaint and may be irrelevant when “Attack of the Clones” come out.
I can’t really say that there is anything that could be considered potential spoilers to “Attack of the Clones.” Since I don’t check into those sites with the possible spoilers; and since half of them are BS anyway, there’s no real way for me to know. Star Wars: Jango Fett serves as a prelude to “Attack of the Clones” and does a good job to give us something to expect from “Episode II”. It’s a good addition to anyone who enjoys Star Wars or sci-fi comics in general.
What’s this? One minute, I see Batman has hit number 600 and all of a sudden, it has hit number 768… oh, I’m sorry. This is Detective Comics #768… For a second there, I thought I was being paranoid. In all seriousness, this review is about Detective Comics #768 and no, Batman didn’t skip a hundred-sixty seven issues… Of course, now that Detective Comics is presented in FULL COLOR as opposed to the limited palette they would use since No Man’s Land ended, the two series seem similar…
This issue of Detective Comics has Batman on the streets dealing with heroin dealers, while the Gotham Police Department attempt to track down the fugitive Bruce Wayne, who has “fled” the country… The fools! Little do they know their wanted fugitive is right under their noses… It’ll be interesting to see where this angle of Batman “shutting out” Bruce Wayne will go and how long it will last. I’m hoping it’ll be for quite a long time. The art is nothing too spectacular, but the locations and characters are recognizable at the very least, so I’m guessing that’s a good thing. The story and writing is typical Batman flair; there isn’t really nothing wrong with that.
If there is one complaint I would have to make about Detective Comics #768, it would have to be the use of full color. All I have to say is… WHY?! Mind you, Detective Comics was a full-colored book up until No Man’s Land was finished, but the limited use of colors was something that made Detective a unique book. It was a contributing factor to setting the mood of the book, because this is a book about a dark & corrupt city and its hero. Such an environment should not be represented with all these bright and fancy colors. Without the limited palette of the previous issues, Detective Comics may as well rename itself to Batman Series II, because the two series seem similar if you neglect the art. I guess the back-up story can get away with it, but most certainly not the main story. At least they didn’t bring back Robin 🙂
Detective 768 isn’t an amazing issue, but it’s not exactly a bad one, either. Because the limited palette normally associated with Detective Comics has been ditched, it is simply a decent book. Nevertheless, anyone who has been following Batman comics shouldn’t pass this one up. And if you want to “jump in”, I suggest you begin with Batman: The 10 Cent Adventure, and get the follow-ups to get up to speed. Worth your money.
When I picked up this book, I had assumed that this Taskmaster character was someone new, because I practically never seen this guy before in any other Marvel comic, despite another comic site stating he was a villain in Avengers. Considering I don’t normally follow Avengers, that’s somewhat understandable. However, when I flipped through some old comics I had, a Spider-Man issue (not sure which one) had the character name Taskmaster, but this particular Taskmaster didn’t really resemble the one in the new series. So this guy probably changed costumes for reasons unknown and now has his own mini-series.
Taskmaster is one of those series where it focuses on a no-good, mercenary-for-hire rather than the goody-goody hero. Although there are some of those types around, they aren’t really that plentiful. Since the main character is also seemingly a mercenary-for-hire, the whole plot seems rather intriguing, if not overdone. It’s not a kiddy book and it’s not that hard to follow the story. Taskmaster’s strong point has to be the art. It is drawn with somewhat of an anime-influence and the CG modeled backgrounds for certain panels are a nice touch.
I’m not too crazy about the title character. Here is a guy who could mimic any action he observes, assume the shape of any person, or replicate anyone’s voice without fraudulence, yet he carries a sword and gun? Surely, to fight guys like Iron Man, these abilities are more than sufficient. Only guys who are typical humans in a world of super-powered characters would such weapons. The other problem with the book is the story. I did say that it has an intriguing story because of the perspective, but quite honestly, this whole backstabbing scenario has been done one time too many already. Maybe over the course of the mini, things might end being different, but until then, the only thing that comes to mind is, “Where have I seen this before?”
For someone who enjoys reading these multi-part storyarcs or mini-series, Taskmaster is a good read. If you’re someone who enjoys a book with good art, this is also a nice book for you. However, those of you expecting the typical hero versus villain bash will be disappointed (there is a fight, but not much). If you can look past that, Taskmaster is alright.
(2025 Update – Fixed a whole bunch of typos that plagued the original 2002 review. My apologies for such a poorly edited piece of tripe. Now it’s slightly less poor.)
The Ultimates is Marvel’s latest entry in their “Ultimate” line of comics. For the uninitiated, the “Ultimate” line can be considered to be a remake of classic Marvel characters, but with a continuity of their own. So far, the only two remakes in the line are “Ultimate Spider-Man” and “Ultimate X-Men”. There is also “Marvel Team-up” which has Spider-Man teaming up with other heroes and villains in the new “ultimate” universe. Now here is “The Ultimates”, which is an Avengers remake.
The first issues of “The Ultimates” depicts Captain America’s final mission during World War II before being frozen for the next few decades (come on, it’s common knowledge by now). If it wasn’t for the guy on the cover, you could have easily considered this as a war book. The artwork is superb and the dark colors make for a fairly impressive interpretation of a battleground during World War II. It makes you want to flip through the pages and admires the artwork.
Now when a new issue of an ongoing series is release, you expect it would have a good story, and Ultimates #1 doesn’t disappoint. This is a well-written and will encourage you to pick up the next issue. It is a pretty straightforward read and anyone can get into it.
There aren’t’ any real downsides to this book, except for the Captain America costume in this issue. I found it to be ridiculous. Sure, it’s a little different, nut it makes you wonder if Cap was the pride of America or its worst fashion embarrassment. This is only a minor complain that doesn’t hurt the book, especially considering that the costume is only a one-time deal.
For anyone who is interested in the Avengers or the “Ultimate” line of books, The Ultimates #1 is a great issue but even a new reader can enjoy this book. It is well-written, great artwork and you can easily get into the story. It’s still too early to tell for the series as a whole, but if the team behind the scenes can keep up with the quality of the first issue, it looks to be a promising series.
dtm666 