Category Fantasy

Jul 1 2023

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Is A Fine Finale For The Legendary Hero

Harrison Ford returns one final time in his famous role as the swashbuckling archaeologist Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The fifth film in the Indiana Jones franchise has been in development hell for several years and it seemed that it wouldn’t ever be made.

Many fans were skeptical that the fifth installment would be able to compare to the previous four films directed by Steven Spielberg. Adding to the doubts were Ford’s age (he turns 81 this month) and the mixed reactions to the fourth film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So, the question most of us have is does the film deliver? For the most part, yes it does.

 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens with an extended flashback sequence in 1944 where Indiana or Indy is battling Nazis in Europe during the waning days of World War II. Unlike the previous films, there aren’t any title cards that establish the time and place, which was disappointing.

Anyway, Indy and his friend Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) are after a macguffin called the Lance of Longinus, which the Nazis possess. A German astrophysicist named Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelson) that is working for the Nazis deduces that the artifact is a fake and tells his superiors about half of another artifact that he possesses. It’s called the Antikythera or the Dial of Destiny and it could help Germany win the war. Before long, Jones and Shaw clash with Voller and the Nazis and are able to acquire the Dial from Voller.

The film flashes forward to 1969 in New York City. Jones is now an old, embittered man who emulates Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino. He is about to retire as an archaeology professor in Hunter College and cannot be bothered to join in the citywide celebrations over the Apollo 11 moon landings. He runs into Shaw’s daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is a treasure hunter and archaeology student and wants to acquire the Dial of Destiny, which is in the college’s storeroom. Also interested in the Dial is Voller himself and his henchmen. After the war, Voller fled to the United States and helped NASA with their efforts to get to the moon. Voller is able to steal the Dial and sets out to find the other half, which is somewhere in Europe.

It turns out that the device was built by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, and allows a person to track fissures or cracks in time, which would let that person travel to different time periods. Obviously, Voller wants to use the re-assembled device go back to Nazi Germany and win the war. The film turns into an extended series of exciting chases as Indy and Helena try to find the other half of the Dial as well and stay one step ahead of Voller and his goons.

Even though Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was not directed by Steven Spielberg, the film is still a fun adventure while trying to evoke the spirit of the older films in the franchise. While director James Mangold cannot compare to the great Spielberg, he does an admirable job with this film.

In a way, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny echoes some themes from Mangold’s Logan, in that that film also dealt with an aging hero past his prime who is forced to go on one last adventure. Don’t worry Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not bleak like Logan, but the themes about aging are well explored. Indy’s age and his lot in life in the late ‘60s may alarm some fans but this honest look at the aging hero in the twilight of his life is a novel theme that had not been explored before in the franchise. On the other hand, his physical feats and invulnerability given his ages does stretch credibility.  

The film is similar to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in that the macguffin is more sci-fi based, but unlike the fourth film it doesn’t have sci-fi tropes involving aliens and flying saucers. The Dial’s usage was quite astonishing and fit in well with Jones’ world view. It’s too bad there cannot be another film that would make up a trilogy where Indiana Jones sought sci-fi based macguffins instead of the religious ones he hunted in the first three films. Oh well.

 A huge reason why Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny works is due to Ford himself. He pours himself wholeheartedly into the role since he knows it is the last time he will play the plucky archaeologist. At this point, Ford is an acting legend that should be treasured and most of us are grateful he was able to don his fedora and leather jacket one last time. The other actors are also excellent in the film including Waller-Bridge and Mikkelson.

The production perfectly captured the look of the different time periods. The special effects, especially the de-aging done for Ford when he played the character in the 1940s was excellent aside from a few quick hiccups. But Mangold was able to keep the action and story moving along to keep us from focusing on the occasional effects flaw.

The only other gripe about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is that it is a bit long. It tries to capture the feel of the Spielberg films and while it quite can’t do it, the effort was commendable. As mentioned above, the story usually keeps moving and we’re engaged during the ride. However, it does not have silly moments like nuked fridges and is also not afraid to have more grounded and emotional moments for Indy. But don’t worry, once the action starts, Indiana Jones finds his old groove, which is always a delight to watch.

José Soto

May 20 2023

Why The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the Most Legendary Game on the Switch

It’s no secret that Zelda fans have been waiting for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK), the sequel to Breath of the Wild (BOTW)  to drop, after all, it won the Game of the Year award in 2017, and is considered to be one of the best Nintendo Switch games you could play. After seven long years of waiting, we finally have the game in our hands to play. Is it any good? Is it worth the wait and money? Is it better than BOTW? To answer all of those questions, I say yes!

Story Synopsis

Tears of the Kingdom starts us off under Hyrule Castle, maybe 3-ish years after the events of the last game, exploring the depths because of a substance called Gloom was making people in Hyrule ill. After a little of exploration, you as Link find murals that depict an ancient civilization called the Zonai, and how they played a major part in the creation of Hyrule.

After reading these murals and traveling the depths, you reach a mysterious room where you see a corpse attached to an arm on its chest. The corpse wakes up, starts talking directly to you, and attacks you, which leaves Link’s right arm swallowed in Gloom and the Master Sword shattered. Then the corpse lifts Hyrule Castle into the sky, which sends the corpse and Zelda plummeting down below. You try to reach out for her to no avail and you are saved by the mysterious arm..

You then wake up on an island in the sky with the arm attached to your right arm to make your arm functional again. The arm belongs to a Zonai named Rauru, and he tells you to explore the sky islands, defeat the awakened Ganondorf, and find Zelda.

Gameplay

The fundamental gameplay in TOTK is (surprise surprise) about the same as it was in BOTW, with major new additions. The physics, weapons, armor, food, sprint, and health bar are all the same. They did, however, throw in a lot of major gameplay mechanics to spice things up.

Ultrahand:  Ultrahand is a fun new upgrade from Magnesis in the previous game, but works with any non-living objects. You can put things together, like logs and wheels, to create basically anything you can think of! I will admit, it does require a little bit of getting used to, but once you master it, you can become as creative as you mind lets you! This is easily one of the most fun gameplay mechanics in this game.

Fuse:  Have you ever wished your weapons would be stronger in a game? Maybe you wanted to get creative and mix together weapons? Well now you can with the Fuse ability! You’re allowed to fuse any weapon or shield to practically everything else! And yes, you can use it on your arrows too, which gives your arrow shots special abilities and deal extra damage.

Ascend:  They may have taken away the champion abilities from the last game, but don’t cry over Revali’s Gale, because Ascend can do just that, but way better! Using Ascend lets you dive straight up into any solid surface, and you emerge on top of it. Have you ever gotten stuck in a cave or room? Just use Ascend to end up on the roof!

Recall:  Last but certainly not least, there is Recall. Recall lets you reverse the direction or movement of basically anything in the click of a button. It can come really handy when you are wanting to return to the sky, because you can use Recall on rocks that have just fallen from the sky to ride them back up!

There is one more ability to use, but it is optional and satisfying to find, so I won’t spoil that just yet. With your abilities you are free to explore and interact with the massive sky, surface, and depths of Hyrule at your own pace! We have only scratched the surface of what this game can offer (pun definitely intended).

Shrines and Dungeons

Shrines are back in this game, with a major design overhaul and creativity surge. Shrines in Tears of the Kingdom can be used to teleport back to places you may want to return to later, but also beating them will give you a Light of Blessing. When you have collected four of them, you can go to a statue and pray to unlock a new heart (max 40) and part of your stamina wheel (max 3). There are 152 shrines in this game to unlock, so you already have plenty to do off the bat!

When you have collected four of Light of Blessings, you can go to a statue and pray to unlock a new heart (max 40) and part of your stamina wheel (max 3). There are 152 shrines in this game to unlock, so you already have plenty to do off the bat!

A major complaint in Breath of the Wild was the lack of traditional Zelda dungeons, which were replaced by mediocre boring puzzles that all had the same design. Well, you may be happy to hear that this game has actual dungeons again, although not traditionally styled. Each dungeon has its own design theme being based on a different element and requires you to solve rather tricky puzzles about 4-6 times to unlock your way to the dungeon boss. The way that its not considered a traditional dungeon design is because its more open and not linear with keys and specific objectives. Each one is so much fun and really requires you to think hard about your next move.

Overworld Bosses and Enemies

The enemies in the overworld areas contain the same monsters from last game, but heavily evolved over the time skip, and new enemies entirely. There are also Zonai Constructs lurking in the sky for any intruders. The enemies can also team up with entirely different enemy life. For example, I have seen multiple times that an Aerocuda would carry a Bokoblin or Lizalfos to make for a deadly air-drop combo. This game is also way more challenging than BOTW, and everybody will swing at you and will not pull any punches!

There are also new overworld bosses to fight. Boss Bokoblins lurks with a group of Bokoblins and will act as the ringleader of the bunch. Lynels return and are just as challenging as they were in BOTW, so keep your reflexes sharp, as well as your sword. My favorite new overworld boss has to be the legendary Gleeoks returning from the first Zelda game, but with a massive buff. I always get scared of these giant three-headed terrors!

Overall Thoughts

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is easily the best game you could play on the Nintendo Switch. It has amazing and almost endless gameplay, beautiful graphics as well as a masterful environment, and a very emotional story. I highly recommend that you play it if you loved BOTW, because this game somehow makes it look like a beta version. This game took me a whole week to beat, and it is genuinely impressive how there is always something to do at all times when playing this game! My only complaint would be that there are some parts where the frame rate would get bad, but that is because of the hardware it is on; they actually did an amazing job working around the limits of the Nintendo Switch! Definitely worth the $70 price tag this time around!

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Apr 15 2023

Top Ten Mario Video Games

With the stunning success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie it’s a great time to look back at the Nintendo franchise that inspired the film and rank them in order of awesomeness! How does this list compares to yours? Be sure to drop a comment.

10. New Super Mario Bros

As Mario’s first new side-scrolling game in several years, this title was released for the Nintendo DS and brought a new visual style to the series that was continued for many games after it and was highly influential. It was a return to Mario’s roots after many 3D games were released, with fun 2D levels and multiple power-ups and secrets to explore.

9. Super Mario 3D Land

This title for the Nintendo 3DS has Mario going through familiar 3D levels, but the action is similar to his earlier 2D side-scrolling games, and it has the return of his iconic raccoon suite from Super Mario Bros 3. The levels are great fun to play and are an inspiration for the later 3D World game.

8. Super Mario Land

Mario’s first portable game for the Game Boy is simple, but incredibly fun and shows how easy it is to pick up a Mario game and have a great time. Based on the NES original, the levels are short, but exciting and challenging. The game even has side scrolling shooting levels, which provides a unique experience in Mario games.

7. Super Mario Bros 2

Mario’s second NES game is in some ways the most unique. He travels to the  dream world of Subcon and battles a new enemy named Wart and his shyguy minions. The action is different from every other title and features his brother Luigi and his friends Peach and Toad as playable characters for the first time. The ending sequence is also a fan favorite, which reveals it was all a dream.

6. Super Mario 3D World

An evolution of the earlier Super Mario 3D Land, having Cat Mario running through fun and exciting levels in a 3D world is something every Nintendo fan should experience and the cat suit is perhaps Mario’s best powerup, The remaster of this title includes Bowser’s Fury, which is the first foray into an open world Mario game that is a fun hint of things to come for future Mario games.

5. Super Mario Bros 3

Mario’s last NES title was his best on the console. This title featured a return to the Mushroom Kingdom and showed for the first time, Bowser’s kids, such as Lemmy Koopa, Wendy O Koopa, and Ludwig Von Koopa, to name a few, who have become fan favorites in their own right and have appeared in many other games, as well. This game expanded on the original game in a huge way, with an overworld to go through, and new power ups such as Mario’s raccoon suit that enable him to fly. Taking off and flying above your foes is an epic moment in Mario gaming!

4. Super Mario World

The high point of 2D mario gaming, this launch title for the Super NES had Mario’s dinosaur pal Yoshi appearing for the first time running through beautifully designed areas in Dinosaur Island while battling Bowser and his offspring, the Koopa Kids. This game perfected everything that came before, such as an interactive overworld, a Superman-like cape to fly around, and a huge amount of levels to explore.

3. Super Mario 64

This was the first and arguably the most influential 3D game of all time. Being able to move Mario in a fully immersive 3D world changed video games forever and had you going though varied and exciting levels while battling Bowser and his minions. The first time you were able to move Mario in any direction and explore Peach’s castle is a moment that so memorable and is just one of many such moments that Mario games have provided.

2. Super Mario Bros.

The original that reinvigorated the video game genre after the Atari crash of 1983, this side-scrolling classic introduced Bowser, Princess Peach, goombas and the Mushroom Kingdom that are now icons for all gaming. The numerous levels and secrets in each world were groundbreaking at the time and made Mario a household name.

1. Super Mario Galaxy

The pinnacle of 3D Mario gaming, this adventure has Mario soaring through outer space in wildly inventive levels that changed how 3D platformers were played. The sheer fun and excitement of this game is what makes Mario an icon who long ago surpassed his gaming roots and now is a movie star.

C.S. Link

Apr 7 2023

The SUPER Mario Movie We’ve Been Waiting For

(SPOILERS WILL BE FLAGGED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PARAGRPAHS CONTAINING SPOILERS)

It is finally time that the Super Mario Bros. franchise gets an ACTUAL movie (don’t bring up the 1993 live-action one…), but is it any good? Critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic gave the movie a 55% and a 47%. Those are low very low scores compared to the audience scores, which are a high 98% and an 86%. Why are the critic scores so low? This will be discussed later in the article; anyway, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, in my opinion, is a fun and referenced-packed adventure that can be watched by all ages, but is especially more enjoyable for the biggest Mario fans. Of course, it isn’t perfect. As my main issues are with the general pacing which leads to lack of substance in some scenes, as well as other scenes being pushed down to compensate with the little time the movie has.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie begins with out two brothers, Mario and Luigi, living in Brooklyn, New York struggling to get their new plumbing business off the ground and running. Their family do not help them at all, giving them words of scolding rather than encouragement. After seeing on the news that Brooklyn is having a massive plumbing problem, they rush to the scene, desperate to get their names out there. They arrive and pull some shenanigans, which then ends with them underground in a pipe maze. They find our iconic green pipe and get pulled into this warp dimension; Luigi gets sent to the Dark lands, and Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom.

The voice acting in this movie was stellar and I definitely owe everyone on the VA team an apology for my past pessimism when they were announced, especially with Chris Pratt as Mario. He was definitely one of the best performances in this movie, followed by Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, and Anya Talor-Joy as Princess Peach. How could we talk Mario without his original voice actor, Charles Martinet? It was confirmed that he would be in this movie, but I really wish we got to hear more of him, honestly.

The animation in this movie was stellar and groundbreaking compared to what Illumination usually churns out. You could really tell they improved a lot and cared about making this movie the best they could produce. The animation truly compliments the brilliant settings designed for this movie. But there are some parts where you could really tell that this was an Illumination film, not that that’s a bad thing this time around.

(SPOILERS) I will now talk about the number of references that I noticed in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Despite not being a big Mario fan, I was still able to pick out a LOT of fun refences sprinkled into this movie. My favorites being references to other Nintendo games, like Star Fox and Punch-Out, and the worldbuilding and designs in this film. The Mushroom Kingdom was amazing and masterfully crafted with Easter eggs of the past Mario games; the Mushroom Kingdom was definitely my favorite place in the whole movie. Then there were Easter eggs to Super Smash Bros., which keeps the tradition that the Sonic the Hedgehog movies started of referencing the classic games that inspired the films.

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Feb 4 2023

Reaction To The New DCU Announcement

To be frank, it was best to wait a few days after the announcement from DC Studios’ head James Gunn about their new slate of DC Universe (DCU) films and TV shows. The immediate reaction for these types of announcements often run wildly until the news is fully digested. What was interesting about Gunn’s announcement was not the rage from fans of the ending DC Extended Universe (DCEU), but the large collective shrug from most.

There are many reasons for the various reactions, but the pervailing muted response has to do with the content of the upcoming DCU films and TV shows and that fans have been burned before with the intial announcement of the DCEU. When the first batch of DCEU films were announced last decade there was a lot to get fans super excited, especially with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now we know how all that turned out. Some of the films were never made (with The Flash finally premiering later this year), while some released films failed to deliver. Then there is the fact that some of the more well-received aspects of the DCEU, namely actors like Henry Cavill and Gal Godot, will not be a part of the DCU. So, naturally the skepticism and outrage was expected.

But let’s face the truth: the DCEU was a failure. Blame the executives at Warner Bros.. Blame the producers, writers, directors and actors. Blame the unrealistic expectations and toxic fans. But the fact remains that there were too many missed opportunities and that Warner Bros. was too reactionary. Instead of trying to fix what was wrong with the DCEU, the film studios had a scattershot approach to their DC properties. They ignored what worked with the DCEU and doubled down on films and TV shows that featured DC characters, but were not connected to the DCEU. What made things worse for the cinematic universe was that non-DCEU films like Joker and The Batman were huge successes. More and more DC films and TV shows were greenlit that were not part of the DCEU, while the DCEU itself was left behind.

This was a mistake. Warner Bros. have the characters in a shared superhero universe that should have rivaled Marvel Studios and their properties. While this may please Marvel fans, the fact is that Marvel Studios needs healthy competition to keep them on their toes, and we were seeing the effect, as their recent films and TV shows were not as well received as earlier releases.

What could have been done to salvage the DCEU? Nothing, at this point. James Gunn took the right approach by starting over. But there should have been a complete reboot. Instead we are getting a TV show about Amanda Waller starring Viola Davis, who was prominent in the DCEU. Then there are reports that other actors from the DCEU like Ezra Miller will be a part of the DCU. Why keep Davis and Miller but not Cavill and Gadot? The latter two actors were very popular and turned in iconic performances as Superman and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, while they were great in their roles they are too identified with the DCEU and nervous executives probably feared that keeping them in a new cinematic universe would be too confusing for the average moviegoer. Whatever.

On the other hand, to dismiss the DCU without seeing the final product is foolish. James Gunn is a very talented filmmaker who took the obscure Marvel Comics property Guardians of the Galaxy and made them beloved superstars. He also did this to a lesser effect with DC characters in his film The Suicide Squad and TV show Peacemaker.

Do some of the announced films and TV shows sound uninspiring? Sure. Who is clamoring for Waller or The Authority or Paradise Lost (sorry this last announced project seems too much like Game of Thrones)? Who the hell can replace Henry Cavill? Anyone trying to answer this should remember how many fans were attached to Christopher Reeve as Superman or bemoaned about how Brandon Routh was short changed. Who knows, maybe Cavill and Gadot will return at some point. It happened to Routh when he had the opportunity to reprise Superman in the Arrowverse version of Crisis on Infinite Earths. That is one crossover event that is begging to be redone properly by Gunn and his people.

It stinks that we have to wait until 2025 to see the first DCU entry Superman: Legacy, but until then we should be patient and see what happens. We should also be rooting for the DCU to succeed because if it falters like the DCEU then it will be a long time before such effort is made to create a live-action cinematic universe based on the beloved DC characters.