Captain America: Civil War Review

I finally got to see it! I finally got to see it! I finally got to see Captain America: Civil War!

I have to admit, I had been excited for this film for a very long time, especially since the trailer that revealed Spider-Man would be in the film. I was so excited to see the role he would play in this little flick. Now, I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible in this review. Because I don't want to ruin this film for anyone.

So, what is Captain America: Civil War about? Well, after the events of Age of Ultron, people are concerned about the potential dangers of the Avengers; power, so some accords have been drawn up. It causes a conflict among Earth's Mightiest, focusing on Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Stark feels the heroes need a check and balance. Rogers fears that putting such a check may end up forcing the Avengers to compromise their principles. However, there's another threat who is using the Winter Soldier to cause chaos and even further divide Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

What amazes me is that despite the films' big cast and sheer amount of heroes in this film, everyone got a moment, and there is a lot of character in this movie, especially when it comes to Stark and Rogers. Stark really goes through the emotional wringer in this movie, and Robert Downey Jr. sells it incredibly well. And Chris Evans' performance as Captain America is very good as well, in fact, we had a great cast for this movie.

Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther and Tom Holland as Spider-Man were considered the breakout stars by many of the film's watchers, and I can certainly see why. Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man felt like an authentic teenager, and his Spider-Man was hilarious. I loved the banter he threw with everyone he faced in the movie, and the fact they showed this rookie hero facing off and holding his own against these more experienced heroes was awesome.

Boseman's Black Panther can be described with one word: Badass. He made Black Panther a badass. He also had the bearing and inherent aura for a fighting king. And it was really cool seeing the Black Panther in action. That's pretty much all I can say about him. Buy the way, buy Black Panther's series. It's really good.

This film had so many awesome moments to see, especially the airport fight. It was probably the most epic fight of the whole freakin' movie! Every hero got at least one awesome moment. I especially loved Ant-Man's moments. So much for one of the heroes people would consider goofy.

Some may complain about the surprising amount of humor in this film, but I saw no issue with it. In fact, considering the darker times for the team in this film, I found the bit of humor to make a nice balance. And the ending was bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter. I don't think the Avengers will be broken apart for very long.

This was a fun film, and I can't wait to get it on DVD! If it's still in your local theater, watch this movie! You won't regret it!

Wild Guns is Back!

One of my favorite games for the Super Nintendo is Wild Guns. It was one of my favorite games to play on the Wii thanks to the Virtual Console. I think it is definitely one of the best games on the SNES, and one of its most underrated, too. I had written a review of it for the now late website 1MoreCastle's "Review A Great Game Day" in 2015, which can be read here.

Hence, my surprise when Natsume, the makers of the original Wild Guns, announced this.

Yup, Annie and Clint are back! They're rested, reloaded, and back in action! Natsume is creating a brand new Wild Guns game after over twenty years! Natsume has revealed some things about the new game to people asking about it on Twitter.

When asked if it was a reboot or a remake, it was said "A bit of both". I'm guessing they're going to do like with the DuckTales remastering: They're going to remake the game, but with a deeper storyline and some new stuff added. I have to pick up that DuckTales remastering sometime. I loved the demo, brought back a lot of memories playing it on Game Boy when I was a kid.

According to an article I found on Nothing But Geek, the game will add two new characters, and have eight levels with three zones each. I like this. One of my only complaints about the original was it had only six levels. Glad this new one is getting more levels. I am curious to see who these two new characters will be, and how they will play.

One thing Natsume did reveal on Twitter is that some of the people who worked on the original Wild Guns will be working on this game. That's actually really cool. I hope we get to see some great remixes of the original soundtrack, as the music was one of the best parts of the original.

Unfortunately, there is one downside to this announcement: This game will be PS4 exclusive. That's right. You can only play this game if you have a PS4. That made me a little sad, as I do not own a PS4. I do not even own a PS3. I just got a Wii U last Christmas, and it's a shame I can't play this game on it. Ah well, I can just get the original the Wii U on the Virtual Console service and play that. That game is still a lot of fun. Hopefully, Natsume will be able to release it on other consoles. It would only be appropriate to play this Wild Guns on a Nintendo console.

Despite the exclusivity problem, I am happy to see Wild Guns make a comeback. The original was one of the most underrated games of the 16-bit era, and I'm hoping this one will make it into a viable franchise.

Voltron: Legendary Defender Trailer, My Thoughts

A while back, it was announced that Netflix was going to revive the 1980s series Voltron, which was created from the anime known as Beast King GoLion. I gave my thoughts on that announcement here. Long story short, I was excited. I discovered Voltron thanks to it playing on Toonami many years ago, and I have seen the Third Dimension series. I remember the lions being able to assume "stealth" forms for that series.

Anyway, the new series has itself a little trailer.

I could not wait to watch this thing. The first thing I noticed was how bright and colorful it was. That was a good sign. It felt like an updated take on the original, so that was nice. The people who did Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series The Legend of Korra, and that style is clearly seen here.

Watching the trailer, I noticed a bit of humor in the interactions between the lion pilots, and I thought that was another good sign. I had heard that this take was going to be a bit darker, which honestly did make me concerned a bit. To me, Voltron should be a fun series, it should not get excessively grim and gritty. This trailer, however, has alleviated a lot of my fears. It seems to be a mature take on the Voltron mythos, while also not being afraid to have some fun. Voltron should be a fun series.

We also got a brief glimpse of Witch Haggar and the main villain, King Zarkon. I couldn't really judge their looks as we don't seen them completely fully, but I do think they are going for a bit of a Thanos vibe with Zarkon. What I'm wondering is, will be see Prince Lotor? There was no mention of him in the cast so far, so I guess he won't be appearing in the series. That's a shame. I'd love to see how the series handled him and his obsession with Allura.

I also loved the appearance of the Blue Lion. I think the Lion is supposed to be CGI. Some may have some issues with the Lions being CGI with everything else being done with traditional 2D, but honestly, I did not see it as very jarring. The Lions and Voltron look great.

The Lion Pilots also encounter a woman who might possibly be this series' Allura. She looks really neat. I wonder who role she'll play, since I doubt she'll be piloting a Lion. Maybe she'll be the Mission Control for the Voltron Force.

We also get a brief glimpse of the Voltron Force's uniforms. I love their designs. It's a great update of the original Voltron Force suits, and I do like that the pilots' colors match the Lions they pilot. That was something that always drove me nuts about the original Voltron Force was their uniforms' colors not matching their Lions' colors. I also like the fact they appear to be armored. Does this mean we'll be seeing the Force do more hand-to-hand combat in the series a la Super Sentai/Power Rangers? Guess we'll see.

And in one final little freeze-frame bonus, the Blazing Sword lives up to it's name. It literally will bring the heat. Awesome. Nothing better than slashing a Robeast in half with a flaming sword.

All in all, this trailer has got me excited. I can't wait to watch this series next month!

Pokemon Sun and Moon Starter Trailer, My Thoughts.

Back in February, it was announced that a new pair of Pokémon games were coming, Sun and Moon. I gave my thoughts on the announcement here.

I've heard a lot of rumors and a lot of speculation about the new game, from its setting to its starters. Well, the starter rumors can be put to rest, because The Pokémon Company has released a trailer which gives us a look at the official Starter Pokémon for the new games.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this when I got up this morning, and I just HAD to take a look. And I ended up learning quite a bit more about the new games than I expected, which is nice.

According to the trailer, Sun and Moon will take place in the Alola region. I have heard rumors that the games' region will be modeled on Hawaii, and it seems to be that way, Alola being similar to "Aloha". The music in the trailer does take on a Hawaiian/Polynesian vibe at times and we do see palm trees and Hawaiian/Polynesian design elements in various areas. I like the general look of the game. It's bright and colorful, although one could say that about the majority of Pokémon games.

The first starter introduced is Rowlet, a Grass/Flying type that is modeled on an owl. I think he could be easily considered the cutest of the starters. He's an almost perfectly round little owl with big ol' eyes, and it's really cool his intro animation has him turn his head around like a real owl does. That's a nice little touch.

The second one is called Litten, and it's a Fire type...and it's a KITTY! As someone who is a proud cat lover, I am happy that a Pokémon game has a starter that is a kitty. This one is my choice. Litten is a cute little Pokémon too, nice balance of black and red with big yellow eyes. I have seen comments on YouTube speculating that Litten will evolve into a panther-like Pokémon  and possibly even get the Dark type as well. I hope so. Never used a Dark type in my teams before, and I'd love to have a panther on my Pokémon team.

The third and final starter is Popplio, a Water-type that is modeled on a seal. Hey, Seel and Dewgong have a cousin! I don't know why, but Popplio's design strikes me as a bit odd compared to the other two starters. I honestly get the ruff on its neck and the big pink nose, a nod to performing seals and the famous "seal balancing a ball on its nose" thing. I don't hate the design, it just seems...odd compared to the other two. Still, he's a neat little starter, and his intro animation made me chuckle.

The trailer also shows us a little more of the Alola region, and it's astounding. We see paths with what look like Tiki heads, a city, and lots of paths. You can tell that the makers of the game wanted to create their own version of Hawaii for the Pokémon universe. I honestly hope that the player character encounters a NPC modeled after Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-O.

We got a cool little bonus as well in this trailer. We got to see what may be the Legendary Pokémon of these games. One is a big white lion, and the other is a big black bat. I have to admit, they look awesome! Maybe we'll learn more about them in another trailer. And they'll be front and center on the games' box art, which makes sense. Legendaries tend to take on the role of box art models these days.

I really cannot wait for this game.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful day, and were given some very nice treats!

Happy Force Fourth!

Happy Force Fourth! May the Fourth be with you!

Independence Day: Resurgence Trailer, My Thoughts

This was something I didn't expect to see at all. A sequel to the 1996 alien invasion film Independence Day, twenty years afterwards. They even dropped a trailer.

I will say, I liked the first film. It was a fun little popcorn film. And I like the fact that they are taking advantage of the time passing in the real world since the last film. According to the film's Wikipedia entry, the film is about the aliens from the first Independence Day essentially wanting a little bit of payback on Earth for kicking their butts in the last movie.

However, humanity hasn't been sitting on their hands. In the twenty years since, an Earth Defense Force has been created to serve as humanity's defense against aliens, using technology reverse-engineered from remains of the alien spacecraft that crashed on Earth in the last movie. I actually think that was very clever of the writers of this film to have this device.

The trailer itself, well...there's not a lot to talk about with it One thing I thought was really cool was the usage of Bill Pullman's character's speech from the original Independence Day in the trailer. It's a great callback to the original film. And it is awesome to see Jeff Goldblum on the big screen again. I hope he gets to say "Most go faster" again. Shame Will Smith didn't want to get involved.

The trailer is mostly shots of various vehicles, the characters, and effects. But then again, isn't that was all trailers are made of? I have to admit, this looks like a really fun film to see. I think I'll especially love the dogfights between the aliens and the EDF's alien-enhanced jet craft.

I hope in the film, or at least in the eventual tie-in media, will explore how everyday life in this world has changed since that alien attack, and how it affected the generation that grew up afterwards. That is something I would like to see. How is everyday life affected by the alien tech? I hope we get some answers on that.

I have heard some people have said that a return of the aliens is impossible, as they were all destroyed at the end. Their civilization traveled from planet to planet, drain its resources, then leave. However, what if the fleet that got destroyed by Earth was just one of many? What if those aliens actually had multiple fleets traveling around the universe looking for resource-rich planets at the same time? That could explain why others are coming to Earth. They realized that the Earth is a potential threat, so they decide to take it out before they become a real power in the universe and a massive problem for them. That's how I see it.

Anyway, I hope this movie will be as fun as the trailer promises.