The new year isn’t off to the best start. I just watched Kaleidoscope and I feel cheated of the thrilling heist experience I was promised. This series has been stretched out so much that it has lost all of its meaningful substance. This series was a waste of time, do not watch it.
The series starts with a man in prison who spends his day growing increasingly bitter about life and plotting his escape. A terrible diagnosis turns his plans into reality. As a free man, he gathers the sloppiest crew to pull off a heist from one of the most secure banks in New York City. Can they come together in time and make off with $7 billion? Or will this be the end of this generic showrunner?
It makes me sad to see such an excellent cast wasted on such a boring series. I came into Kaleidoscope expecting interesting characters and adrenaline-pumping heists, but instead, all I got was pointless drama. The heists are fine at best, but they are overshadowed by how boring everything else is. They could have cut this into a two-hour movie, and life would have been better.
My biggest complaint with this series is that it tries to do too much. There is too much backstory for characters no one will care about, and there are too many uninteresting plot threads to unravel. The series has an interesting gimmick where it plays with the timeline, but it doesn’t work here. The series will jump around between different characters and times, building up to its disappointing heist. Instead of experiencing the heist as it happens, you get to watch the excitement of planning, relationship problems, and its uninspired aftermath. It was a mistake to have the heist come at the end because I had already checked out long before then. Sometimes starting at the end makes a narrative interesting because you need to know what happened. Here, it made me care even less about this series.
If you like heist movies, watch one of the better ones. This series is a waste of your time. You can watch it on Netflix, but I wouldn’t.
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Movie Review: Strange World (2022)
I finished off my year by watching Strange World on Disney+. There was a lot of negative press surrounding this movie when it was in theaters. The general consensus was this movie was bad, and no one should watch it. Well, I watch everything, and I needed to see how badly Disney dropped the ball with this movie. My consensus is that it is not as bad as people made it out to be.
Strange World is a movie about a society made utopia by a mysterious bean. The power cultivated from this bean gives this society the ability to power their homes and vehicles. The people in this society lived in this perfect utopia of unlimited energy until sickness began destroying their crops. With the foundation of their society quickly crumbling, a new team of explorers must venture into the unknown and find a cure. Will they be able to conquer the unknown and bring back a solution, or is a society doomed to fall back into the dark ages?
Strange World is fine for what it is, a generic adventure movie made for kids. The voice acting is great and the art is beautiful. I loved the colors and creatures that make up the new world. It may be a concept that has been done before, but at least it is nice to look at. This is a decent movie to watch with your kids. As an added bonus, you might even be able to convince them to watch the films this one draws inspiration from.
In recent years, Disney has made an effort to diversify its casting. Sure there are times when the attempt is a shameless money grab, but I can’t deny that I appreciate how colorful the stories have been recently. Strange World has a diverse cast with a gay lead, and although it isn’t a great story, it is nice to see the representation in the stories we show our kids. As someone who grew up watching Disney where no one looked like me, it makes me happy that Ethan looks like someone out there now.
This movie may not have been worth watching in theaters, but it is fine to stream at home. This movie wasn’t made for me, so I won’t be as harsh as I usually am. If you are looking for a decent movie to throw on during family night, Strange World is a solid option. Check it out on Disney+.
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Best of 2022
In no particular order, I have decided to compile a list of the best movies and tv shows I watched last year. The links will take you to the respective reviews and I have separated them by streaming service.
Amazon
Netflix
Hulu
Apple TV
Shudder
Paramount+
On Demand
If You Can Find It
Gravity Circuit
If you are a fan of the old-school Megaman games, Gravity Circuit should already be on your radar. The game promises an intense 2D platformer experience where you take control of Kai as he makes his way through a post-apocalyptic world full of bloodthirsty robots.
For those curious, you can download a demo on the steam store. I played a bit of the demo, and although I am terrible at platformers, I enjoyed the experience. It reminded me of the frustration I felt when trying to beat the original Megaman games. This game will carry a level of difficulty that will frustrate most players, but the feeling of achievement at the end will be all the sweater. If you are a fan of these types of games, this game is probably already on your wishlist. For those who aren’t familiar with the genre, I recommend you try the demo before making your decision. I had a hard time with this game on normal. I can only imagine the challenge involved in higher difficulties. If you have never played these games before, prepare to die a lot.
Gravity Circuit has great art with fun gameplay. It has been announced to release on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC. Check it out today!
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Trailer
Gameplay
Images and gifs taken from the steam store. I don’t own these pictures
Blue Protocol
Amazon’s newest MMO has certainly piqued my interest. With every new bit of news that comes across my desk, I continue to grow more excited. I love MMOs and am always looking for a new one to sink some time into. Blue Protocol seems like a promising title that might fill a void in my life.
Blue Protocol is a sci-fi open-world MMO that was announced sometime in 2023. A trailer was released during this year’s Game Awards, and I have to say, it looks pretty cool. I am a huge fan of the art, but then again I love anime. The world looks beautiful, with huge maps and a very open-world experience. I have a terrible sense of direction, so I will most likely be spending most of my game time trying to figure out where I need to go.
What excites me most about Blue Protocol is the combat. From what I have seen, it is a very active experience. A problem I have with some MMOs is that I don’t have the patience to wait around for cooldowns. If I am not actively moving, dodging, or attacking, I get easily distracted. It is why games like Guild Wars and PSO2 rank among my favorites. Blue Protocol seems to have a similar combat system to PSO2, I just hope it has more content. There also seems to be an elemental system, I hope it allows you to switch between different elements. Blue Protocol features all the traditional classes, although I didn’t see a healing class. I am very excited to try the mage class, but as an alt-aholic, I will be trying them all.
I’ll admit, the fact that Amazon is tied to this has me a little worried. I am scared the monetization will be too predatory and the gameplay will be too grindy. The few Amazon Titles have left me with mixed feelings, but I am willing to give them another chance. I did sign up for the Beta and will be reporting on my experience as soon as I can. Until then, I will be monitoring the official site closely. In the meantime, I guess I’ll try giving Lost Ark one more go.
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Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Myster (2022) – Review
I’d like to start off by giving a special shoutout to the user splithare for buying me coffee. It is the only way I can continue to function and keep posting these reviews. I hope you have yourself a Happy New Year! Thank you so much!
I have already talked about the Murderville series and touched on my disappointment with it. The series isn’t bad, but it does appeal to a very specific audience, and I am not it. If you like improv, you might have a better time with this series than I did. If you are interested in the series the Who Killed Santa? Christmas special is the best place to start. It is still a bit rough, but the best example of the format.
The premise of this series is to have guests go through a murder mystery experience without any prep. The mystery has already been scripted, but the guests go through it blind. The entertainment of this series relies heavily on the raw reactions of the guests and how well they play off of Will Arnet.
The guest stars for this special are Jason Bateman and Miya Rudolph. They are fantastic guests and do very well in this type of format. The chemistry they share with Arnet is infectious, and they do well in improv. What hurts this series is that some guests don’t have good chemistry with Will Arnet. As a result, you get a lot of awkward or unfunny moments that drag on for too long. Other guests aren’t good at improving, and their reactions are dull. For this series to be successful, they need to do a better job at getting guests who can be entertaining without any structure and can play off the energy Arnet brings to the experience.
Despite it being one of the better examples, Who Killed Santa? is still difficult to recommend. The mystery is dumb, but that is the general tone of this series. This series feels like a cheesy gameshow, but one that tries very hard to be funny. This special is funnier than the episodes in the main series, but the lack of structure means that you have to sit through some boring moments. Even if you like the actors and improv, the overall rawness of the performances makes it disappointing.
I can’t recommend this special because of its inconsistency. But if you are interested in watching Murderville, this special is the best place to start. I recommend you throw it on in the background while you are doing anything else so that you can ignore the boring bits and be around for the funny ones. I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this because it isn’t anything special, but you can stream it on Netflix if you are interested.
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Series Review: Murderville (2022)
Murderville aims to be this quirky improv crime drama, but one that ends up being mediocre. While the concept is interesting, it isn’t consistent enough to be worth the trouble. This series seems to have been made with a very specific audience in mind, but unfortunately, I am not in that group.
The premise of this series is to guide a famous person through this interactive crime drama experience. The experience is led by actors who mostly follow a script. The guests know nothing about what is going on. A lot of the humor relies heavily on how well the guest can adapt and react to certain situations. What this series ends up being is a collection of sometimes funny improv exercises. If you are considering watching this series, I recommend watching a highlight real on YouTube instead.
The problem with this series is how much the entertainment falls on the guest. Not every guest is going to be good, and there are already a couple of episodes to prove this. The main draw to this series is to have actors you know reacting to this silly mystery, but it isn’t going to be consistently good. Most of the guests didn’t have the improv skills to keep the flow going. This leads to a lot of awkward moments. It was fun to see the actors working hard to try to make it all work, but the series as a whole is mediocre.
If you like to improve the guests, you might have a better time, but it is still a hard sell. For this format to work, you need guests who can be as entertaining as the actors propelling the narrative. This isn’t a bad show, it has some funny moments to it, but your time is better spent watching them on YouTube. But if you like this format and are a fan of the guests, you can stream this series on Netflix.
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Film Review: The Invitation (2022)
The Invitation is a disappointing horror movie that isn’t worth your time. There are some interesting visual moments in this movie, but they aren’t worth sitting through this movie.
Evie is a struggling artist with no family left who decides to do a DNA test to see if she has any living relatives. She finds a long-lost cousin who flies her out to England to meet the rest of the family she didn’t know about. Evie is shocked to find she belongs to a very powerful and old family in England and quickly falls for a mysterious lord. But within the shadows of the manor, an evil presence hunts for blood. Can Evie discover the sinister motives behind her visit before it is too late?
The acting in this movie is fine, but the writing isn’t. They try too hard to be politically correct, and it comes off too preachy. Evie is constantly voicing her disapproval of the wealthy class, and it gets tiresome. Evie is a very one-note character whose only characteristic is to virtue signal woke buzzwords to a millennial audience that probably didn’t go see this movie.
The writing struggles to keep the plot moving. While I appreciate the beautiful shots of the manor they used as a setting, there isn’t any substance. If the movie isn’t virtue signaling or forcing conflict, it sort of remembers it’s supposed to be a horror movie. There are some solid horror moments in this film that have me wishing this movie stayed a horror movie instead of turning into the cheesy cliche it is. What little suspense this movie can create falls flat when ex-Machina comes to save the day.
With so much content out there, your time is better spent elsewhere. But for those who don’t believe me, watch this on Netflix.
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Synced Beta Impressions
The Synced beta is now live until January 15, 2023. Sign-ups are open on the Synced official page or through Steam.
Synced is a 3rd person looter-shooter survival game where you must travel over a post-apocalyptic landscape fighting monsters called Nanos. Synced is another zombie hoard game with a pet mechanic that I found interesting. The beta offers two modes of play: a hoard Co-op PVE survival mode and a PVP mode that needs more love. The PVE mode has you in a team of three as you move from checkpoint to checkpoint collecting weapons and upgrades and killing everything in between. PVP has you pit against another team as you fight over resources. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get into PVP mode and won’t be able to speak on that experience.
To start, you select a Runner and a Nano Companion. Runners are survivors with unique abilities, and Nanos are the robot pets that help you in battle. The flavor of runner only really changes the type of grenade you get to use, but the nano you choose plays differently. I liked using the Crusher nano because he was bulky and hit hard. I found the pet mechanic easy to manage and a lot of fun. I loved the feeling of dropping down a giant onto the battlefield to take off agro and do my bidding. I will eventually try the other Nanos, but at the moment, Crusher is bae. During matches, you can find better weapons and earn currency to exchange for upgrades like in any other survival game. Upgrades are randomly generated, but I found the RNG to be fair.
Synced has a leveling system where you are able to unlock better weapons, upgrades, and characters as you finish matches and quests. At the moment there is a holiday event where you can earn skins for your character.
I am having a lot of fun with this game. The gameplay is smooth, and I haven’t found any bugs. The graphics and the concept are interesting. My only complaint is that wait times can be bad depending on when you play. During peak times, you can get into a PVE match pretty quickly, but I have yet to try their PVP mode. I have a feeling that PVE is going to be where I am going to spend a lot more of my time anyways. If you are looking for a game to play, check out the Synced beta. It’s fun, it’s free, and it is looking very promising.
Series Review: Spriggan (2022)
Spriggan Is anime’s generic attempt at bringing Indiana Jones to the future. While a neat concept, it feels rushed and underdeveloped. It may not be the worst anime I’ve seen, but it makes it hard to recommend.
Spriggan is about a secret government agency whose mission is to collect powerful ancient artifacts and keep them from the clutches of evil. The story focuses on Yu, a talented high school kid who, with the help of a powerful mech suit, goes travels the world hunting these powerful relics. Each episode focuses on the lore and retrieval of a different artifact.
Right off the bat, I am not a fan of the art style. It feels stiff, fragmented, and cheap most of the time. The combat is okay, but it is anticlimactic. Most of the problems are solved by ex-Machina. My biggest issue with this anime is that Yu is a generic cocky male protagonist who is perfect. Most of his dialogue involves him being cocky about his skills, and it gets annoying. When he does struggle or start to get beat, he is saved at the perfect time, and the whole thing doesn’t matter.
Another issue I have with this series is that there isn’t a good villain to drive the narrative. This series revolves around different organizations whose motives are uninspired and lazy. Most people are evil for the sake of being evil. It doesn’t help that they are destined to lose to Yu.
The problem with this anime is that it is limited to six short episodes. While I appreciate that they didn’t drag this out as much as they could have, it isn’t long enough to build the world or develop its characters. Each episode is a different adventure, and all of them are generic. This series left such a small impression on me that I have already forgotten what it was about.
You can stream Spriggan on Netflix, but it isn’t worth it. It looks cheap, the story is rushed, and there isn’t anything worth watching in it. I could make the case of throwing it on for background noise, but there are better anime out there more worthy of your data.
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