Game Of Thrones "Hardhome" Review

 

Now then Game Of Thrones the last time I reviewed an episode of Game Of Thrones was all the way back in July 2020 (with the exact date being either July 1st 2020 or July 2nd 2020 depending on where your seeing this review) as such I thought that it was about time that I review another episode of Games Of Thrones. I fully admit it was hard for me to pick an episode to review since there are alot of good and memorable episodes out there and join me as I review the Game Of Thrones episode that is called simply "Hardhome" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is episode Dany gets advice from an unlikely source , Arya makes progress in her training with the many faced god and Jon tries to rescue some Wildlings. If i'm being honest it was pretty hard for me to write a plot summery for this episode simply because not that happens plot wise and this episode is rather rightfully more focused on advancing storylines from earlier in this season (this episode is from season 5 / five by the way) which honestly made it hard for me to write a summery of the plot for this episode but I will admit that this episode did a good job of advancing the shows other storylines in a way that felt natural with one of the plot lines being advanced in this episode being so good that I might talk about later on in this very review but we'll see.

Starring in this episode is Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister , Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Also starring in this episode are Kit Harington as Jon Snow , Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark , Maisie Williams as Arya Star , John Bradley as Samwell Tarly , Hannah Murray as Gilly , Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giants bane , Alfie Allen as Reek , Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei , Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H'ghar , Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton , Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton , Anton Lesser as Qyburn , Faye Marsay as The Waif , Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Karsi , Hannah Waddingham as Septa Unella , Brenock O'Connor as Olly , Richard Brake as The Night King , Ian Whyte as Wun Wun and Ross O'Hennessy as The Lord Of Bones.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in this episode in all honesty the acting in this episode was one of the many highlights of the episode. Simply because all of the actors in this episode manage to convey so much emotion without actually saying what there character is feeling and for a good scene to highlight is the Sansa and Reek / Theon since in that scene we see that Reek / Theon try and hide the pain that he experienced with Ramsay was torturing him and we see him open up to Sansa for few minuets thus showing us that Theon is still in there and that Theon feels a little bit of joy just by knowing that his old self is still in there and all of this is done with out a single word from either Alfie Allen or Sophie Turner telling us how either character feels and is a great example of how good the acting and the writing in this episode truly is in my honest and very humble opinion. 

Doing the CGI for this episode and I assume the rest of the series is El Ranchito , Lola Visual Effects , Rodeo FX , Atomic Fiction , Clearcut FX , Image Engine Design , Screen Scene , Cadence Effects and Nviz. What really did shock me about this episode is the fact that the episode makes great use of practical effects and while there is some CGI in this episode there's not that much CGI in this episode which is honestly a shame since the CGI effects in this episode look really good and in my opinion alot of why I think that the CGI in this episode looks really good is not because the CGI in Game Of Thrones is generally really good but because the CGI effects and the practical effects are blended together so perfectly in this episode that you can't really tell what was a CGI effect and what was a practical effect.

I will fully admit right now that the one speech that made me want to review this episode is the one that Daenerys Targaryen gives to Tyrion Lannister. That entire scene is so well written and given what we now know happens to Daenerys Targaryen I can't help but wonder if the bit where she mentions wanting to break the wheel was either a very clever bit of foreshadowing or if it has a double meaning since how Daenerys Targaryen acts when she says that she wants to break the wheel is very creepy and even the music gets a little bit creepy as well and as such i can't help but wonder if it's during season five (the season that this episode is from for those that don't know) is where Daenerys Targaryen started to go insane but that's just what I think tho.

In all honesty his is one of the best episodes of Game Of Thrones in my opinion since everything in this episode is just so freaking good. One of the only things that I didn't like about this episode is that Arya doesn't get a whole lot screen time in this episode I think Arya only gets one maybe two scenes in this episode which is a shame because her scenes are in my opinion at least pretty good but at the same time I can see why Ara wasn't included that much in this episode since this episode had so many storylines to juggle and so having one more storyline take focus in this episode would have been a bit much and the episode would have crumbled under it's own weight in my opinion. 

Now I said that I might mention the Cersei Lannister  storyline at the start of this review and I truly meant it. I honestly loved the scenes with Cersei Lannister in this episode and I loved how her storyline was advanced since we see her go even more crazy in this episode almost to the point where watching her is quite scary and I just love that and I love that even tho she doesn't out right say that she's planning to kill everyone in the sept you can tell that that's what she's thinking (yes I do know that she says that her face will be the last face that the people of sept will see but she doesn't say how there all going to die) and this honestly makes her more cold and calculated because due to the fact that she's had the time to think this through or at least that's I think anyway.

Now I can't recall the exact running time for this episode but I now that this episode has a running time of at least fifty seven minuets. Which I feel is another of this episode faults since this episode was so good that I wanted it to last longer and I wanted to see more of the characters that we got to see and catch up with in this episode but due to the episode being at fifty seven minuets long and the fact that the episode honestly had enough story for at least an hour and a half it meant that scenes felt rushed and because of the fact that some scenes felt rushed suffers because of that one simple thing in my honest and humble opinion.

Now then boys and girls since there was alot of action in this episode I have to talk about the action that was in the actual episode itself. In my opinion the action in this episode was honestly really good even tho we only got one action scene it was still a really cool action as well as an action that mixed both practical effects and CGI effects really well in my opinion the only action scene we got in this episode was the massacre At Hardhome / Battle For Hardhome which is honestly the only action scene that we needed in this episode plus this action gave birth to that awesome sight of The Night King raising his arms and thus brining back dead back to life but now to serve in his army which in my opinion just seeing that image of The Night King raising dead is such a cool image in my very honest and humble opinion.

Overall like I said earlier on in this review this is perhaps one of the best episodes in Game Of Thrones TV history in my opinion. However that doesn't mean that this episode is perfect because no episode of Game Of Thrones or any Tv show for that matter is perfect since i've discussed alot of this episode episodes flaws (this episode is also pretty forgetful) in this review just like i've discussed the good things that are in this episode in this very review as well and as such this episode gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

As for where I got the images that I used in this review in this review well I got all of the images that I used in this review from either Google Images or the official Game Of Thrones fandom wiki page with the website that I preferred to use for the mages that I used in this review being the official Game Of Thrones fandom wiki page simply because not only is there alot more images from this episode up on there but the images on the official Games Of Thrones fandom wiki page are for the most part very high definition which for me at least is always a good thing since it makes the review look alot nicer and alot more pleasing on the eye in my opinion.

Scooby-Doo! The Sword And The Scoob SPOILER FREE!!!!! Review

 

Scooby-Doo fans we have a bit of a tradition going here which is everytime a new direct to DVD animated or live action Scooby-Doo film is released I review it as soon as I possibly. Well it seems as if this release not only snuck up on me but the release of this film was also early since the film is due to be released on Tuesday and yet either the film was leaked or Warner bros decided at the last minuet to move the release of this film but I logged on to some certain websites and I saw the film was up and so here I am with my review of the film and so join me as I review "Scooby-Doo! The Sword And The Scoob" enjoy.

Now here is where I would normally tell you what the plot of the film is and give you my thoughts on the plot of the film. However this film doesn't have a plot what so ever and trust me I looked and I looked hard for anything regarding a plot and the fact that this film doesn't have a plot is the first thing wrong with this film since even the bad direct to DVD Scooby-Doo films be they animated or live action have some sort / some form of plot and that sadly isn't the case here and hell any kind of story that they could have they end really quickly so your just basically watching stuff happen for seventy one minuets and that doesn't make the film or even entertaining it makes the film pretty freaking bad in my opinion.

Starring in this film is of course our regular Scooby-Doo voice guest which here is made up of Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo , Fred Jones and Monster , Matthew Lillard  as Shaggy Rogers , Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake , Morgan le Fay / ??????????????? and Dragon and Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley and Sandi. In the guest cast for this film we have Jason Isaacs as King Arthur and the always funny and super talented Nick Frost as Merlin.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in this film I honestly thought that the acting in this film was really good. Which given who is starring in this film from both the regular Scooby-Doo voice cast and the this films guest cast the fact that the acting in this film was good really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone since all of the actors in this film are really good actors and so it makes sense that these actors would turn in some really good performances in this film.

Doing the animation for this film is Digital eMation who have done work on other Scooby-Doo projects and who seem to be the go to animation for Scooby-Doo animated projects they've alot of the more recent Scooby-Doo direct to DVD  animated movies and animated TV shows. As for what I thought about the animation in this film it was honestly hell i'd go as fat to say that the animation in this film is one of if not the best thing about this film since the animation really does look and the character movements are really fluid as well as the backgrounds looking really stunning in my honest and very humble opinion.

Now then the one thing that every single Scooby-Doo project should have is a mystery it doesn't matter if the mystery is good or if the mystery bad the Scooby-Doo project in question just needs to have a mystery. Sadly a mystery us what this film is sadly lacking because just like the plot there simply isn't a mystery which goes against the entire Scooby-Doo franchise premise so not only is there no plot there's also no mystery for the characters to solve as such I honestly have to wonder why did the makers of this film decide to make this film if they don't have a plot or mystery both of which are needed for a piece of Scooby-Doo media the mystery is needed even more then the plot tho since the franchise was built on teenage kids and there talking and very allways hungry cowardly dog solving mysteries.

Now i'm trying to keep this review as spoiler free as possible and that means that I have to be really freaking vague as heck when it comes to talking about certain parts of this film. One of those being the one thing that I think had every die hard Scooby-Doo fan worried when they saw it happen in the trailer for this film but I will say that that thing most likely had all of us die hard Scooby-Doo fans worried in the trailer happens alot better in the actual film even more so when it comes to the climax of the film and I have to say how they explain it in this film makes sense for the world of Scooby-Doo in my opinion and it means that this franchise didn't jump the shark as it were in my very humble and very honest opinion.

Now then boys and girls this film has a running time of one hour and sixteen minuets and thirty three seconds. I will fully admit that the film really does fly by which I do have to give the film alot of credit for since it would have been very easy to bog this film down with pointless scenes and while there are some pointless scenes in this film alot of the scenes that are in the film come back into play in the films third act it's just those final ten minuets which to me at least felt pointless and in my opinion at least was there to get the film over the seventy minuet mark.

Now I left one of the names blank when I was listing the actors (and telling you who the actors in this film were playing) for a reason. That reason being that that character is the villain of this film and I have to say that they give this villain no end goal at all and it's very freaking easy to work out who the villain of this film is even if your not giving this film your full attention as such I would have liked it if it was a bit harder to workout who the villain of the film is and if the villain of this film actually had an end goal since it would have made the villain of this film a bit more creepy in my opinion and that would have made the film better which is always a good thing in my humble opinion. 

Now then boys and girls since this is a comedy that means that I have to talk about the comedy / jokes that are in the actual film itself. If i'm being honest the jokes that are in the actual film are for me at least a very mixed bag since there some jokes that worked but there are alot more jokes that are in this film that just don't work and without giving away what gets referenced there are some references to older cartoons both made by Hanna-Barbera and not made by Hanna-Barbera which I thought were really funny in my opinion.

Overall this was a pretty bad film and i'm just saying it's bad by Scooby-Doo standards i'm saying this film is bad by film standards. Yes there are some good things that are in this film but those good things are vastly overshadowed by all of the bad things that are in this film and yes i've talking about both the good and the bad things that are in this film in this very review and as such this film gets a 4 out of 10 from me , as for where I got the images that I used in this review well I got the images that I used in this review from both the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page (which is called Scoopypedia for those that don't know) ad Google Images with my preferred website being Google Images simply because there are alot more images from this film which sadly isn't the case for the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page.

 

WWE / WWF Insurrextion 2002 Review

 

Wrestling fans when a posted my review of No Mercy 2002 I had secretly planned another wrestling based review for today. Honestly the show that i'm reviewing today is one that I have very fond memories watching since I used to watch both this show and Rebellion every single year and just like with alot of the classic WWF / WWE shows and pay per views this show wasn't easy to come as I don't have the WWE Network and so I had to use "other methods" to watch both this show and "No Mercy 2002" and so join me as I review what is actually a historic WWF / WWE show the 2002 pay per view simply known as "Insurrextion 2002" enjoy.

If you've seen any of these UK exclusive pay per views then you'll know these UK based pay per views dont follow any of the current storylines. To put it simply these UK based pay per views can best be described as house shows because none of the matches matter and nothing that happens in this show is referenced every again and nor do these matches have any impact on any of the storylines that were going on at this point.

Now unlike what I thought about the "No Mercy 2002" set I actually kind of like the set for this show just to describe the set for this shoe for you all in either side there are two large video screens with a giant X in the middle as well as a smaller video screen underneath the giant X. While this set does have alot of dead space for a show that's basically a house show the set does honestly look pretty good in my opinion.

If you know this card that you'll know that this event featured the late great Eddie Guerrero who has just started his second run with the company. I have to say that even Eddie Guerrero was a heel in this show it was still fun to see Eddie Guerrero again and it honestly reminded me of how good a wrestler Eddie Guerrero truly was since even tho he's a heel character in this show you can't help but be won over by him in his antics.

This event features future WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus in a tag team with Trish Stratus teaming up with Jacqueline to take on Molly Holly and Jazz. I have to admit that they do a good job of protecting Trish Stratus in this match since she's paired up with three women who could and still can wrestle and it helps that the match itself honestly wasn't that bad in my opinion but I just that the match had a bit more time to fully develop since it does feel a bit rushed in some places.

What I found to be annoying is that for some reason Jerry "The King" Lawler uses a lot of British phrases at several times during this event. Not only where the phrases he used un need and unnecessary but alot of the time they were really unfunny as well which makes me wonder why they had Jerry "The King" Lawler say these phrases since he never did it for any other UK based pay per view as far as i'm a where.

Now believe it not this event is actually a historic pay per view since this was the last televised show to use the WWF name since the Raw before this event would use the WWF and the very next episode of Raw and the next pay per view would use the WWE name. That was a fact that I honestly didn't know and if you look at this show you can tell that some changes are about happen since the logo has been changed and the trademark has that thick black outline that was seen on alot of shows from around this same time period.

This event runs for a total running time of two hours and twenty minuets and thirty two seconds which for a show that's basically a house show but put on pay per view two hours and twenty minuets and thirty two seconds is a tad bit on the long side in my opinion. Since like i've said a few times in this review this show was is just basically a house show as such i don't feel that this event needed to be as long as it was if anything the event would have been just as could it was under two hours in my humble opinion.

What you might also be surprised to learn in you didn't watch Wrestling With Wregrets review of this show. Is that technically this show features the first loos of Brock Lesner since the match in question is The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff hardy) vs Brock Lesner and Shawn Stasiak with the team of Brock Lesner and Shawn Stasiak being defeated by The Hardy Boyz , knowing that Brock Lesner picks up his first defeat on this show to me makes the show worth watching simply because it's something that the WWE will never officially recognise.

Honestly the matches on this card for me at least range from average to bad which is a shame because there are alot of solid wrestlers booked on this show. However to me what brings the wrestling down is the fact that there's no story behind each of the matches as such there's no reason for me to get invested in what i'm seeing because what i'm seeing in the end doesn't even matter in the official WWE canon but I will say that the wrestlers booked on this show do a good job in those wrestling matches but that's just what I think tho.

Overall this was honestly a pretty good show and while I cannot say that it's better then No Mercy 2002 for a show that's a glorified house show you get some pretty fun matches. That being said I did have some issues with this show all of which i've discussed in this review and there are some good things in this pay per view / show / event which i've also discussed in this review and as such this show (which incase you've forgotten is called "Insurrextion 2002" give me credit it's taken me to nearly the end of the review to write that even once) a 7 out of 10 from me, as for where I got the images that I used in this review from I got the images that I used in this review from either the official Pro Wrestling fandom wiki page or Google Images and i can't say which is the best website to use if you want to use images from this show / pay per view / event since the quality is the same on both the official Pro Wrestling fandom wiki page and Google Images so I say use whichever website you guys want to use.

  

 

WWE / WWF: No Mercy 2002 Review

 

Wrestling fans since it's been a little while since we last talked I thought that i'd hopefully dedicate the next few days to talking nothing about classic WWE PPV's. Why classic WWE PPV's I hear you ask well the answer simple alot of these classic WWE PPV's are shows that I grew up with as such it made sense to me at least to cover a few pf these shows because when these shows first aired I would watch WWE all the time where as now while I do keep up with the product via Youtube I don't watch WWE on a weekly basis and so join me as I review "No Mercy 2002" enjoy the review.

I honestly don't feel that you need to have watched Smackdown or Raw from around the same period of this show. Simply because they sum up every story line either in a full blown video package or by showing highlights from either Raw or Smackdown and I do feel that this is great way to remind people of what the storylines going on at the time were as well as get new fans into the product who perhaps might not want to watch several weeks worth of episodes to understand one match or to understand what's going on in this show.

Let's talk about the set for this show to me it's a very plain looking set with there  being alot of space between the titantron and the thin square thing. I honestly that the set for this show isn't that visually interesting to look out in fact it looks rather plain and boring in my opinion which is a shame because the sets for WWE shows be they weekly shows or PPV's should in my opinion always look visually interesting.

This is the first time that i've seen a show with Chris Benoit on the card for years and I have to say given what he did it's honestly uncomfortable watching him compete on this show. That being said I do strongly believe that we should judge Christ Benoit and what he did outside of the ring separately from what he did inside of the ring but I will fully understand if people just don't want to talk about Christ Benoit anymore.

Just t talk about the the opening match which is Chris Jericho and Christian vs Goldust and Booker T for some reason the WWE chose to have Christian and Goldust be the ones that are involved with the finish. This is despite the fact that the story behind the match is focused on Booker T and Christ Jericho as such to me would have made alot more sense to have Christ Jericho and Booker T involved with getting the pin fall rather then Christian and Goldust.

Just to give you guys an idea of how badly the women in WWE were treated during this time period because there are only two women's matches on this card and not only does each match last less then ten minuets it's the second that has actual wrestlers. Since the first women's match is Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marie with the second match being Trish Stratus vs Victoria as such just from those two matches alone you can very easily tell that the Trish Stratus vs Victoria which is for Trish Stratus's WWE Women's Championship but to be fair both Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie do a passable job and you can tell that both Torrie Wilson and dawn Marie are trying to put on a decent match but you can't compete with Trish Stratus vs Victoria in my opinion.

Sticking with Trish Stratus what I wasn't expecting was to see her use all of her main moves in her match with Victoria. Since I had honestly forgotten that she using the Chick Kick , The Stratusphere and The Stratusfaction at this point as such it was honestly refreshing to see her bust those moves out and what was even more shocking is seeing Victoria kick out of all of those moves it's just a shame that after a killer tag team match the crowd was pretty much dead for the Trish Stratus vs Victoria match since the match was really good.

If you know your wrestling history then you'll know that this show was taking place during the infamous Katie Vick storyline. Which wasn't just bad by the standards of today it was always pretty bad and just watching a match that was about that storyline and advancing that storyline just brought back of that storyline and thank god that storyline ended not long after this show because my god was that Katie Vick storyline pretty freaking bad.

This pay per view is two hours and forty six minuets and thirty seconds which is honestly the length that a WWE pay per view should be in my opinion. In my opinion those involved with making this pay per view do make the most of the time that they have since almost every segment is either advancing a current storyline or is setting up a current / future storyline which in turn helps the WWE get more viewers and i'm shocked that the WWE don't does this now with there current pay per views because honestly they could really do with building up todays WWE wrestlers so that they are actually superstars.

There are honestly alot of really good matches on this card as such it would be hard for me to pick out just one good match. Even the matches that aren't the main event are for the most really good (yes i'm including Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marie in there as well) every wrestler is on their game in this show and while none of the other matches will ever top the main event which here is Brock Lesner Vs The Undertake in a Hell In A Cell match for the WWE Championship they are all still some really good matches in my opinion.

Overall No Mercy 2002 was a really good pay per view in my opinion with like I said some really solid matched. While I didn't go to much into the negatives in this review since all the negatives were just bad backstage comedy segments those are still some bad elements and while they don't out do the good elements with me having discussed both the good and the bad elements of those pay per view in this review those bad elements have to be taken into account and as such this pay per view gets a n 8 out of 10 from me , as for where I got the images that I used in this review I got the images that I used in this from either the official Pro Wrestling fandom wiki page or Google Images and honestly it doesn't matter which website you use if you want images from this pay per view since there's no difference in terms of image quality.

My SPOILER FREE First Impressions Of Wandavision!!!!!

 

Ladies and gentlemen this is the first time in over a decade that we haven't had one single entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well that has now all changed since the show that many of us have been waiting for has finally debuted it's first two episodes and so you just know that I had to give you my first impressions of this rather odd show and so here are my SPOILER FREE first impressions of "Wandavision" enjoy.

I really wish I could tell you what the plot of this show is however I honestly have no idea what the hell the plot of the show even is. Which honestly I see as being a good thing since now we get to theorise what the plot is about and with the show obviously having some form of mystery element in it we now get a better chance to work out what that mystery since we the audience have no idea what's going on just like the characters but that's just what what I think tho and who knows maybe episode three (which is out next week) that might give us a better idea of what the actual main plot of this new show actually is.

Starring in these episodes are of course Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany as Vision. Also starring in these episodes are Debra Jo Rupp as Mrs. Heart , Fred Melamed as Arthur Heart , Kathryn Hahn as Agnes , Asif Ali as Norm , David Lengel as Phil Jones , ex Buffy The Vampire star Emma Caulfield as Dottie ,  Jolene Purdy as Beverly , Amos Glick as Dennis the Mailman and David Payton as Herb.

In all honesty I really enjoyed the acting in these first two episodes I thought that all of the characters in these first two episodes have really good comedic timing. I really cannot think of a single bad performer in these first two episodes because all of the actors honestly got a laugh out of me which for a show that's meant to be set in a sitcom / comedy world makes alot of sense and it will be interesting to see how these new actors do when the show gets more dramatic.

Now I cannot comment on what I thought of the CGI in these episodes simply because there wasn't any CGI in these episodes. However I can comment in the opening to episode two and since this isn't a spoiler (since it doesn't effect the plot of either the first or second episode) however the intro for episode is oddly enough an homage to the classic 1964 TV series comedy "Bewitched" which as someone who enjoys watching "Bewitched" from time to time I honestly loved the fact that the intro to episode to of "Wandavision" (this show) pays homage Bewitched.

Honestly this is the easiest first impression that i've had to write simply because there's literally nothing that you can spoil in these first two episodes. With that being said I can see people being out of by this show due to how odd the show is and the fact that so far at least it doesn't seem to have any kind of a plot but I do think that this show is rather refreshing due to how odd the show is and I can see it gaining some fans due to how odd the show is as well.

Now i'm trying to word this without giving away anything from the first two episodes but some characters that have featured in the marketing for this show are so far yet to appear in the show. Now I did read a review Yahoo which did spoil which of these characters appears first but i'm not going to tell you who that character that appears first is and what episode that they appear in but given what it says on IMDB this character might not be a major character in the shows storyline but I could be wrong tho only time will tell.

Again without giving anything away there is something I thought was really freaking cool that happened at the start of the first episode. I'm not going to say what that something but for me at least it was a really cool addition and it helped to get me in the mood for the first episode. I loved what they did at the start of the first episode just because it was a nice little touch and it's something that they didn't have to do it's just a shame that they didn't continue with that little touch at the start of the second episode.

Now just like with The Mandalorian each of these episodes it seems is going to have a different running time with episode ones running time being twenty six minuets and thirty three seconds and episode twos running time being thirty three minuets and forty one seconds. Honestly i'm not sure how I feel about the episodes being quite short since on the one hand having a short running time does fit the sitcom / comedy angle that there going with at least for these early episode but on the flip side of that due to the episodes having shorter running (again episode ones running time being twenty six minuets and thirty three seconds and episode twos running being thirty three minuets and forty one seconds) it does mean that the stories that are being told in those episodes are being rushed as such I wouldn't mind if these episodes were say forty five minuets to fifty minuets to sixty minuets long simply because it would allow the stories to be fleshed out a little bit more and it would give us more of a chance to get to know these newer characters.

Now then even tho this is an action show the focus in these first two episodes at least is comedy which again given that both Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) are either stuck in a sitcom comedy like dream or Wanda is doing something which is making her think of this sitcom / comedy world it oddly makes sense that the focus o these early episodes would be the comedy. That being said I found the comedy in these first two episodes to be honestly really good with alot of the jokes getting a big laugh out of me that being said tho not all of the comedy in these first two episodes worked for me personally but all comedy is subjective and so just because I didn't find a joke funny doesn't mean that you guys won't find the same joke funny and it works the other way around as well since you guys might find a joke in these early episodes to be unfunny where as I might find the same joke in these early episodes to be funny.

Overall so far this does seem to be a really good show and I do think that so far it is living up to the hype that the show built up in it's marketing but only time will tell if it really does live up to the hype that the show managed to build up in it's marketing. Since this show just started today (hence this first impressions post and not a full on review of the series or either of the episodes that the show has released) and there's only two episodes so far i'm not going to give this show a rating just because the show might get better or worse as the show progresses  and it wouldn't be right for me to judge an entire show based on the first two episodes but I will say you should check this show out if your a die hard Marvel fan or a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As for where I got the images that I used in this review I got them from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page which I do highly recommend if you want to use any images from anything to do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe since alot of images on the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page are really high definition as well as high quality.

 

 

Batman: Soul Of The Dragon Review

 

DC Comics fans the company is known for it's straight to DVD animated films and well a new one has just been released. Since I have a tradition of reviewing each and every one of these straight to DVD animated films when they are released you just know that I was keeping my eyes on this film and well as for last night the film was released digitally and so join me as I review the latest straight to DVD animated DC Comics film "Batman: Soul Of The Dragon" enjoy.

The plot of the film as far as I can tell is a cult wants to unleash there god upon the world but it's up to Batman , Richard Dragon , Lady Shiva and Ben Turner / Bronze Tiger to stop them before it's far to late. I'm going to be freaking blunt here there's not much here in terms of story at all which is a huge negative since DC Comics straight to DVD animated films always have good plots to them and so it's sad to see one of these films that doesn't even have a decent story in my opinion since the story is so thin that it might as well not even be there.

Starring in the film is David Giuntoli as Bruce Wayne / Batman , Mark Dacascos as Richard Dragon and Kelly Hu as Lady Shiva. Also starring in the film is Michael Jai White as Ben Turner / Bronze Tiger , James Hong as O-Sensei , Jamie Chung as Jade Nguyen , Josh Keaton as Jeffrey Burr , Eric Bauza as Axe Gang Leader , Grey Griffin as Lady Eve , Robin Atkin Downes as Schlangenfaust and Erica Luttrell as Silver ST. Cloud.

As for what I thought about the acting in the film it honestly wasn't that bad but given who is in the film that's to be expected. I would like to say tho that David Giuntoli who plays Bruce Wayne / Batman in the film is miscast since when I hear his voice i don't hear Batman I hear somebody trying and failing to do a Batman impression which is never a good sign however the rest of the voice cast as to be expected sound really spot on.

Doing the animation for this film is the greats over at Studio Mir who did the animation for The Legend of Korra and Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge among many others. The animation for me at least is one of the few high points in the film since the animation is honestly pretty good bit there are a few design choices that had me baffled like for example all of the characters have regular eyes and yet in one scene at the start of the movie we see a character with dot eyes which I personally found to be pretty distracting since none of the over characters have dot eyes.

There's also the fact that the jacket that they gave Richard Dragon as alot of shading on it which I again fond to be very distracting because none of the other clothes that the characters wear have that amount of shading done on it. I honestly liked the overall design for each of the characters since all of the main character designs look like they fit in well with the film 1970's setting which for me at least was a pretty huge plus.

For some reason this film chose to have a lot of flashbacks and when I say alot I mean alot since there's a flashback roughly every five to ten minuets for a large of the films very short running time. Usually I would understand why there's a lot of flashbacks in a film but here since you don't have that long to tell what little story you have those flashbacks feel like padding since barring two flashbacks none of the flashbacks in this film add anything to the films story nor it's characters and so the film would have been better of if they cut down on the amount of flashbacks in my opinion.

I'm not giving away anything by saying this but how this film ends is a good example of how not to end a film. Especially when you take into account that there hasn't been a sequel or follow up film announced and so instead of ending in a more naturel way the film just stops which is honestly pretty jarring in my opinion pretty laughable since the makers of the film couldn't be bothered to come up with an ending and so they just chose not to end it and so I have to assume the film makers assumed that we wouldn't have noticed the bad ending or lack of an ending which as you can no doubt work out has failed miserably.

The film has a running time of one hour and twenty two minuets and thirty eight seconds which for a film that has very little actual is a little bit on the long side. I feel that this film could have told it's story in well under that time and all you would have to do is remove all of the pointless and useless flashbacks and that's it since nothing changes with those flashbacks included and so by taking them out once again nothing changes plot wise oh but if you did remove all of the flashback that are pointless then the film would only be about twenty or even thirty minuets or so in length.

Now then boys and girls since this is an action film that does mean that I have to talk about the action that's in the actual film itself. In my opinion the action in this film is honestly really good with al of the main characters each getting a moment to shine in the films many action sequences , however my issues with the action sequences in this film is the fact that there's far to many action scenes in this film and the fact that all of the films many action scenes start every five to ten minuets or so as such there's no time for you the audience to catch your breathe the second that you the audience do catch your breathe the next sequence beings and it's like that for the entire film , just like with alot of the films flashbacks these action feel like padding but that's just what I think anyways.

Overall this is honestly a fairly average film in my opinion since even tho the film does have a so many issues. Those same issues can also be in any other film and aren't exclusive to this film and when the film does have something good in it you really do know it due to how bad the rest of the film is and yes i've covered both the good and the bad things in this film in this very review as such this film gets a 5 out of 10 from me , and as for where I got the images that I used in this review from well I got the images that I used in this review from either the official DC movies fandom wiki page , the official Batman fandom wiki page or Google Images and for once I cannot say which website is the best one to use if you want images from this film since both the official DC movies fandom wiki page and the official Batman fandom wiki page only have one image each and the ones on Google Images range in quality and so I say use whichever website that you guys want to use.

My SPOILER FREE First Impressions Of The Star Wars: The High Republic Comic Book

 

Star Wars fans it's been a long time since I last spoke about a Star Wars comic book in fact the last time I spoke about a Star Wars comic book was on August 25th 2018. So to say that it's been a while would be a huge understatement however as luck would have it a new comic book has just been released and it's the first book in the new High Republic line of books that Lucasfilm is producing and so here are my first impressions of the comic book which is called "Star Wars: The High Republic" and so enjoy the post everyone.

As far as I can tell just based of this first issue this new comic book series isn't going to have a plot whatsoever. Which is already a huge red flag for me personally since if your not going to bother telling or setting up a story then I have to wonder what the hell is the point in this book existing since even bad comic books at least have a story to tell but who knows I could be wrong and there could be story developing but you only get once chance to make a good first impression and well so far "Star Wars: The High Republic" isn't making a good first impression in my opinon.

Now unlike alot of the Star Wars comic books where they don't really give you a timeline of when these events are meant to take place the High Republic series is meant to take place at least 100 to 200 or maybe even 300 years before Star Wars: Episode 1The Phantom Menace. Honestly I kind of like that Disney Star Wars is willing to explore a previously unknown time in the Star Wars universe since it means that the characters that we meet in either the novels , children's books , adventure books or comic books won't be overshadowed by the more well known Star Wars characters.

With this new era in Star Wars history it also means that we get to see new planets as well as new types of creatures. Sadly tho the first and only planet that we see in this issue is a jungle planet which is something that we've already seen in both Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and in Star Wars: Episode VI Return Of The Jedi and so there really much new that you can do with a jungle planet because we've already seen what you can do with a jungle planet twice but who knows maybe in future issues we'll get to see more diverse planets and not just the same tired types of planet that we've seen a hundred times already.

As for new creatures we get introduced to creatures called the Ximpi who from what I can tell seem to be either talking bees or talking wasps. I will make it known right now that i'm not that familiar with alot of the Star Wars canon and so there's a good chance that other Ximpi have appeared in other books , comic book , children's books , TV shows or video games but this is my first time seeing them and all I could think is they don't shut up because the two Ximpi that they introduce in the story Lenaki and Kanri just don't shut up at all and that makes them really annoying characters in my eyes.

Writing this book is Cavan Scott who from what I can gather by reading his Wikipedia page has written alot of Star Wars stuff before but mostly for the Star Wars Adventures line of books as well as the Star Wars: Choose Your Destiny line of books. As such this his first time writing more mature Star Wars book and well if i'm being honest the writing isn't that good with alot of the dialog being spent telling us how good or protagonist Keeve Trennis is instead of giving reasons to actually care about her but that's also an issue with the Disney Star Wars sequel trilogy so you can easily tell that Kathleen Kennedy is being very hands on with this High Republic line of both books and comic books.

The artwork for this book is being done by Ario Anindito who as far as I can tell has mostly drawn Marvel comics but he did draw a what could be seen an offensive take on the origin of Jesus Christ with a book called Jesus Jumpkick which he drew for Notion Splosion Press. The art in my opinion isn't that bad but the issue is it's not that good either since there are alot of drawings that do look good but there are alot more drawings that look like they could have done with one or even two more passes just to get them better.

Now then let's talk about our main character for this issue shall to me Keeve Trannis who yes is our main character for this issue. Is rather bland rather understandably we don't get to find out much about her but at the same time we don't get to find out what her personality is either and so she comes across as a generic jedi someone who the audience can picture themselves being but that doesn't make Keeve Trannis an interesting or even good character it makes her a dull and boring character or at least that's what I think anyways.

I will say that a famous Star Wars character does appear in this opening issue but it's just one short scene. To me tho having that character appear in this issue is pointless since all it is is a cheap way to try and get the older fans on board with this High Republic line of books and comic books since the role that this character played in the book is so small that it could have been cut out and nothing important would have been lost but that's what I think anyways.

Now then this is an action comic book and that means that I have to talk about the action that's in this first issue. In my opinion the action wasn't that bad it was the kind of action that you expect to see in a Star Wars comic book which is both this issues biggest strength and one of it's weaknesses because yeah the action is really cool but at the same time it's full of stuff that we've seen already and that kind of makes the action feel a bit boring in my opinion.

Overall to say that I have very mixed feeling about this first issue would be a huge understatement since there is the potential there to be a good book. However due to the fact that Kathleen Kennedy seems to be heavily involved with this High Republic line of books and comic books I can't see either this book or the line of book and comic books being that good and since this is only my first impressions of the "Star Wars: The High Republic" comic book then I won't give this book a rating since like i said it could turn out to be great and it wouldn't be right to judge an entire series based on the first issue of the comic book. 

All of the images that I used in this post I got from either the official Star Wars fandom wiki page or a "other methods" website. Now usually I wouldn't do this but i'm going to here i'm not going to recommend the best website to use for images from this issue just because the website I would honestly recommend is the "other methods" website ad I don't condone using those kinds of websites hell I only used it just because i'm in the UK and well you know how the world is and what's happening in the UK right now so I had no choice but to use the "other methods" website but trust me when I tell you the images from that "other methods" website are very high quality and very high definition but again the "other methods" website is not one that I condone using tho.