EftM Turns 1 – The Superhero Year

Hello readers! Today is the first anniversary of this blog!

I look back at the posts from a year ago… yikes. I think my writing has definitely improved since then. (Please don’t go read those. It’s painful sometimes…) I’m still planning on continuing to write here, since reviews are something I’ve always enjoyed. On that note, I’d like to apologize for not posting much. It’s been a rough month, and I haven’t had much time to either watch new movies (except for some musicals – post on that soon) or play new games. However, I just picked up a few slightly older DS games, and I’ll be posting my thoughts on those in the next couple weeks, along with some TV recaps as seasons finish up in the next couple months.

Since this is an anniversary post, I’m going to talk about something that I both enjoy immensely, and has been oddly popular in the past year. That thing is superheroes!

First off, I don’t have a preference between DC and Marvel. I love both of them equally. My favorite characters are divided fairly equally between the two, the heroes being (in no particular order) The Flash (either Barry or Wally), Daredevil,  Green Lantern (John Stewart), and Captain America. I also enjoy a good villain, however, and those are (in no particular order) The Reverse-Flash, Harley Quinn, Green Goblin, Magneto, and Doctor Doom. (Personally, I find DC’s villains to be far more memorable, but they’re not my favorites. Weird.) A lot of these have shown up on the screen recently, or they’re about to.

TV and movies have been saturated with superheros in the past few years. We’ve gotten Arrow, The Flash – and soon Vixen – from the CW, with those shows not only featuring the title character, but other heroes as well (Ray Palmer/Atom along with maybe a future Green Lantern from Diggle on Arrow, some hints of Vibe from Cisco on The Flash…) I’m looking forward to Vixen, honestly. However, the CW is not the only one producing superhero television – Netflix is releasing Daredevil soon (yay!), ABC has Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (started slow, got good at the end of season 1) and Fox has Gotham (ehh… I’m watching it out of a morbid fascination with where they can take it next at this point…) Fan series of varying quality abound, and the movie industry has schedules for their Marvel and DC films. Needless to say, I don’t see a lack of superhero material in the next three years. Avengers 2, The Flash (why couldn’t you have put Grant Gustin in there!?), Doctor Strange, and two Justice League movies (Looking forward to Dawn of Justice!). I’ve also recently started in on reading comic books, and there’s no shortage of content there, either.

So why is that? Why are superheroes so popular in our culture at this time?

The truth is, I’m not entirely sure. I’m planning on writing an essay exploring that question. My initial thoughts are that we look for heroes, people who fight for the greater good. We have everyday heroes such as the police, firefighters, our military,  but they can’t save everyone. People want a hero, someone who takes care of the things that the police can’t catch. Muggings, small-time robberies, a house fire where the firefighters can’t go in. We look up to our everyday heroes – but what if there was someone who did all those things for no credit or reward?

And to go with that hero, there must be a villain. Someone who poses a true threat – someone with no remorse or moral qualms. The Flash, the fastest man alive, has the Reverse-Flash, faster than him. Batman, grim and down-to-earth, has the Joker, a giggling psychopath. Captain America has Red Skull, the antithesis of what he believes in. Without a villain to keep stirring up trouble, our hero has no long-term reason to go on, to improve. We watch and read these heroes and villains battle it out for years, winning individual confrontations, although neither side ever truly wins the war. We cheer the heroes on, boo the villains. We appreciate a well-played plot on either side, and we spend our time wishing we were heroes too.

Granted, these issues can get iffy in real life. Is vigilante justice a good thing or a bad thing? I’m inclined to believe that vigilante justice is fine. Not everyone is cut out to be a police officer, and not everyone wants the credit. They just want to make a difference. I think that, quite possibly, that’s the crux of the matter. We want to make a difference – we just don’t know how. So we look to the screen and comics to find someone who does make a difference, and we idolize them. I think there are definitely worse things we could do – at least with superheroes, we can gain something good – confidence, a desire to help others. Superheroes impact people in ways that we can’t always measure immediately, but eventually show up in a choice, words, or just general behavior. And all through this, we continue to cheer on both our everyday heroes and our fictional supers.

I’ll step off my soapbox now, but what do you think? Are superheroes just a temporary thing, or are they an integral part of society that will never leave?

Best of 2014: Gaming Favorites

I ended up getting quite a few video games over the course of 2014. Hey, I like my 3DS! Unfortunately, no Mac games made it onto my list this year, mostly because the only game that appealed to me was Civilization: Beyond Earth, and it’s ridiculously expensive. However, I have four 3DS games that I really enjoyed this year. Games are in order of release date.

1. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (February 28)

I talked about this one way back when in this post. Azran Legacy was an excellent finale to the Professor Layton series, and my only regret is that it’s the last game in the series to feature Layton as the protagonist. We’ll miss you, Professor!

I still recommend this game for anyone who enjoys puzzles and mysteries. 9/10, recommended 9 and up.

2. Disney Magical World (April 11)

This is one of those games I picked up on a whim. Magical World is a mostly open-ended, almost sandbox type game that I still have not managed to finish. I say mostly and almost – there’s seasonal content to be had and quests to accomplish, but I see very little to do after you have all the outfits, recipes, furniture, and all 100 stickers. However, it may have replay value, and it can take quite awhile to finish. (Granted, this is coming from someone who takes years to reach max level in any MMO ever made, so…) I’m going to say 7/10, and recommended 6 and up.

3. Tomodachi Life (June 6)

Another game I talked about way back when, this is truly a sandbox game. A cross between Animal Crossing and The Sims, this is a rather cute game for people who like The Sims or Animal Crossing, but want something less realistic than the former and less time-consuming than the latter. Plus, if you have to put it down for several months, no weeding is required. Yay for that! However, this is less like Sims in that Miis have a mind of their own, so no matter how much you may push it, Iron Man may not fall in love with Batgirl. (Yeah, we tried that… I can’t even get Nightwing to be friends with her. On the upside, Joker and Batman seem to have put aside their differences. I saw them playing soccer together. Weird.) 8/10, recommended 7 and up.

4. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (August 29)

A crossover between the Professor and the Ace Attorney, this quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. With the puzzles of Layton and the court cases of Wright, this game is definitely worth picking up. Plus, as I said when I originally talked about it shortly after its release, everybody likes a good old-fashioned witch trial! 9/10, recommended 12 and up.

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There were a few other games/game combos released this year that I have plans to pick up in the next few weeks – Fantasy Life and LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham come to mind. Overall though, I was actually pretty impressed with my few selections from the myriad of released games this year, although none top A Link Between Worlds from last year. What can I say, despite the awesomeness of Batman and Professor Layton, nobody stands up to Link.

Best of 2014: Film Favorites

There were quite a few films released this year that I ended up really enjoying despite previous worries, such as if the book would allow for a split in the middle (Mockingjay – Part 1), if it would end up destroying a character I had always loved to hate (Maleficent), or simply be a poor sequel to what I considered a fantastic movie and group of characters (Muppets Most Wanted). However, some movies really stood out to me this year. Let’s take a look at them. Movies are in order of release date.

1. The Lego Movie (February 7)

I know it’s gotten some hate, but I really enjoyed The Lego Movie. Is it cheesy? Yes. Does it have a ridiculous amount of cliches? Depends on who you ask. I prefer to call them tropes. But this movie has two things going for it – LEGO Batman, and the LEGO ability to make fun of itself. This makes everything awesome.

Despite the aforementioned possible issues and bonuses, The LEGO Movie hit my top favorites for two reasons: it’s family-friendly (that’s a big deal around here) and it (with an open mind on the viewer’s part) appeals to everyone from children to adults. I even know some teenagers who like it. Overall, I give it a 7/10, the EftM stamp of geek approval, and an appropriate for everyone over 6 (there are some mildly scary parts, but everything being built out of LEGOs, it’s all bloodless and even the scary parts are slightly funny.)

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4)

I enjoyed the original, yes. Could it have been improved? Probably. I thought it was good though, as Captain America is one of my favorite superheroes of all time and Chris Evans plays him well. However, despite some unfortunate spoilers from Marvel on the identity of the Winter Soldier, this movie pushed Captain America to an all-time high in awesomeness. Captain America uses his super-soldier abilities to a higher degree than previously seen in either The First Avenger or The Avengers, and it really is cool. Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D is no more, and I honestly did not see that little plot twist coming. I assume S.H.I.E.L.D will get rebuilt at some point. Maybe in time for the next major movie requiring one or more of the Avengers?

Overall, it’s a Marvel movie. It hit my favorites because a) it’s Captain America and b) it’s an awesome movie. Of course, it has issues, like most movies. There’s profanity and plenty of violence. Despite that, The Winter Soldier is a fun superhero movie that shows the blurry lines between right and wrong. 8/10, appropriate for 13 and up.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1)

 Normally, I’d say it’s a bad sign when Marvel is making movies about groups and heroes that I didn’t know existed (example: Ant-Man… that’ll be interesting), but in this case, it works. I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, despite not even knowing such a group existed in the Marvel universe prior to this film. Sure, it was a bit cheesy, and it had some issues logic and content-wise, but it was still a good movie. Of course, seeing it at 11 at night probably didn’t hurt either. Following a rather mismatched group of mercenaries and assassins who decide to do some good for once, Guardians of the Galaxy introduces us to the Infinity Stones. This is where the logic issues come in. Sometimes, the Infinity Stone in question causes the user to explode. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes a group can share the power and live. Sometimes, they explode anyways. It was all very confusing.

As with Captain America, I have to say that it was very Marvel. Lots of explosions, general awesomeness, some profanity, and plenty of violence. It was an enjoyable two hours  though. 7/10, recommended 14 and up.

 4. Big Hero 6 (November 7)

I’m noticing a lot of Marvel movies on my watch list this year. No, this one isn’t under the Marvel logo, but it is based off a Marvel team of the same name. I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Funny personal story goes with this film too – I was on a Disney cruise (yay!) and went to see this in the Buena Vista Theater onboard. It’s 11 at night, and the grandpa sitting behind my mom and I fell asleep only a few minutes in. This wouldn’t have been funny, except for the fact that he snored very loudly. This made everyone in the theater laugh, and it certainly cheered up the general mood in the theater during the depressing parts.

The audience for this movie in general was much more interactive than a normal movie audience, boosting the movie enjoyment. However, the movie itself was beautifully animated, and the city of San Fransokyo was an amazing mix of San Fransisco and Tokyo. The storyline was also pretty good, and I liked the characters. It also gets bonus points for being family-friendly, and for being less about superheroes and more about family and friends. Plus, Baymax is adorable. I want one. 9/10, recommended 7 and up.

5. Honorable Mention – The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (December 14)

I put this one on here for one reason – it’s the final chapter in the Hobbit trilogy and the end of the Tolkien motion picture series (until, y’know, someone decides they aren’t good enough and remakes them with an inferior cast in fifteen or twenty years.) I haven’t seen it yet, but a group of my friends went and they said it was amazing. I trust their judgement, but I’ll probably update with a Theater Thursday when I go see this in the next week or two. My guess from other reviews I’ve seen, and what my friends said? I’ll probably love it, give it a 9/10, and say it’s appropriate for 14 and up.

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In the end, there were some great films released this year, and some not so great ones, just like every year since the beginning of movies. However, the next two/three years look to be promising (to geeks especially), so here’s to a new year in film!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! While kids run around trick-or-treating, the rest of us either have to work or have time to kick back and relax with some candy. If you’re one of the former… sorry. Maybe you can still have candy?

However, if you’re relaxing with no real plans, you’re not into trick-or-treating, or you have no interest in nightmares for the next week (like me), I have a short list of slightly-less scary movies and video games I’m recommending. (Before you get started, pick up a bag of your favorite candy.)

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Movies:

1. 1931 Frankenstein (if you have it.)

2. 1991/1993 The Addams Family (okay, corny!)

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (I’ve never watched it. This was a recommendation from a friend.)

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas 

5. Coraline (creeped me out enough to get put on the list.)

6. The Watcher in the Woods (another recommendation from a friend.)

 

Video Games:

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum or City (I’m playing Asylum.)

2. Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall (It’s more creepy than scary. I found it creepy, anyways.)

3. Gone Home (I’ve heard this one is pretty good – maybe a little creepy?)

4. Or you could just play LEGO Harry Potter or Batman.

 

If you’re looking for TV shows, I recommend Buffy the Vampire Slayer or maybe Merlin. Vampires or wizards… take your pick.

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I’m not actually a huge fan of Halloween. It’s too creepy and gruesome for me. My favorite thing is still the clearance candy at Walmart during the first week of November.

Oh, and be sure to watch/play these in the dark. That’s the best part.

Special Edition TV Tuesdays – Nightwing: The Series

TV Tuesdays highlights TV shows that started in or after the 1980’s, with occasional exceptions.

This week’s TV show is….

Nightwing: The Series

And we bring you a special edition TV Tuesdays. It’s on a Tuesday, yes. However, it’s not a TV show. It’s a web series from ismahawk based on the DC superhero Nightwing. Only five episodes (the last one went up yesterday, October 27th) and only 8-10 minutes long apiece (making the whole thing about the same length as a single TV episode), these are actually really well done. The acting can be questionable at times (at least in my opinion), however, the guy playing Richard Grayson/Nightwing is actually pretty good in the role, as is the person playing Deathstroke. As for the costumes, they’re really pretty awesome, as you can see in the photo to the right.

I’m not going to spoil the story, but I enjoyed it. It shows some serious anger management issues and arrogance from Nightwing, stemming from his time as Robin and having Batman keep important information from him. (Like the fact that Barbara wasn’t killed when she got shot. Yeah, Batman forgot to mention that… Robin wasn’t happy.)

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In the end, this is a fairly good series featuring Nightwing, one of the least-done major heroes in live-action media. I say major – he’s not Justice League, (I don’t think?) but he is a former sidekick of Batman. For anyone who loves Nightwing, I’d recommend this series for 13 and up. I’ve only noticed a couple instances of profanity so far, but the fights get bloody and mildly gory.

The title credits are also pretty awesome, and actually do a really good job of giving you Richard Grayson’s background leading up to the start of the series. The theme music is awesome too.

The creators are thinking about making more seasons of the show… let’s hope they do. I’m not going to lie and say this show’s perfect, but it’s one of the better fan-made series out there.

For those of you interested, I’ve included the link to the YouTube playlist.

Nightwing: The Series

TV Tuesdays – Gotham

TV Tuesdays highlights TV shows that started in or after the 1980’s, with occasional exceptions.

This week’s TV show is….

Gotham

I like Batman, though I was well into my teens before I warmed up to him. For Batman lovers… well, sorry. Gotham is set (probably) two decades before the Dark Knight began his career – the first episode starts off with the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. But on the scene is James Gordon – a new, uncorrupted recruit to the (corrupt) police force of Gotham, and also the main character of the show. By the end of the episode, Gordon makes friends with the now orphaned Bruce, promising to find the guy who murdered Bruce’s parents, while cleaning up Gotham and the police force. Honestly though, young Bruce is a bit creepy. “I’m sorry we didn’t catch him.” Gordon apologizes at the end of the episode. “That’s okay. I want to see him again.” Bruce replies. I know the guy killed his parents, and he’s mourning that, but still… creepy kid.

“But if this is set in the past, where are our favorite villains?” you might ask. Don’t worry – just in the first episode, we’re introduced to two younger villains – Poison Ivy, who already loves her plants, and Selina Kyle, who’s currently employed as a teenage pickpocket, and seems to be everywhere at once. She witnesses the murder of Bruce’s parents, goes the funeral (unofficially), and shows up just about everywhere else. We also meet Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin), who’s currently employed by Fish Mooney (a character created just for the show), a small-time mob leader, and underling of Falcone. There’s a few other people we meet, like Edward Nygma, currently a coroner and forensics operative for the Gotham City Police Department (and already loves his riddles), and Harvey Bullock, Gordon’s partner on the police force. (He’s also on the payroll of Falcone). Gordon may have his hands full with up-and-coming villains soon – and some may be closer to him than he realizes.

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So far, I’ve enjoyed Gotham. It’s a bit dark, a bit creepy, and a bit gory. Not saying the gory part is good, but it is a crime show, in the end.

Current main cast from left to right – Oswald Cobblepot, Fish Mooney, Edward Nygma, Ivy Pepper, Harvey Bullock, James Gordon, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, and Selena Kyle in upper right.

I’ve only seen the first episode, but so far, I’d recommend Gotham for 13 and up – it’s violent, it’s got some profanity, and I’m not sure what else. I’m looking forward to future episodes. I’ll update occasionally to include new plot developments and characters.

Thankfully, for those of us without TV, Fox keeps episodes up on their website for almost a month and a half after they air, so watching it is pretty easy, if you don’t mind ads. Netflix already has exclusive streaming rights to Gotham, so around this time next year, you’ll be able to stream it on Netflix. Gotham is rated TV-14.

I’m just hoping the Joker shows up at some point – because what’s Gotham without him?

Saturday Mornings – Batman Beyond

Saturday Mornings criteria include, but are not limited to a) being a show geared toward young teens or under, b) being something that adults can possibly tolerate for one or two episodes, and c) generally feeling like something you’d watch on – you got it, Saturday mornings in your PJ’s. Occasionally these will get thrown out and a movie, or a show that makes adults grimace will get added in, but this is technically adult-tolerable TV for kids.

 

This is both terrifying, and yet a seriously awesome look.

We all know the Batman story, right? Bruce and his parents walk out of a theater, parents are killed, Bruce has serious post-traumatic stress, goes out, learns all these awesome martial arts, escapist techniques, and fighting styles, comes back, makes himself look like a bat to terrify criminals (and occasionally us) and becomes one of the best superheroes ever. (That’s up for debate. But really, who doesn’t like Batman?)

Oh, and he picks up the occasional kid and trains them as Robin. (Most of which then end up leaving for whatever reason. Or get killed. Remember Jason?)

But what happened when Bruce got… too old? Yeah, you knew it had to happen some time. But we’ve got a plan for that. Right? Right.

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In the two-parter pilot Rebirth, Bruce is trying to rescue a gal from a hostage situation (He’s in his 60’s at the moment, it’s 2019) and has a heart attack. He’s forced to grab a gun to defend himself (resulting in a wonderfully hilarious “oh crap” reaction from the guy that was beating him up) and decides to permanently retire from being Batman.

Meet Terry McGinnis. He’s a 16 year old high schooler with a juvie record. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his dad, while his younger brother lives with mom. Batman material? Maybe not. But we’ll fix that by the end of the episode. Needless to say, Terry gets into a fight with his dad, and storms out. He gets into a bit of trouble with some Jokerz, the local gang who imitate the Joker of days gone by. (The main part of Beyond is set in 2039). He makes a run for it. Where does he end up? Right in front of Wayne Manor.

He may be old, but he’s still awesome. Yes, he just hit the guy. With the cane. Without looking.

He and Bruce fight off the Jokerz, at which point Bruce collapses. The guy’s old and has heart problems at this point, after all.

While Bruce is taking a bit of a power nap, (or perhaps faking to make Terry go away) Terry decides to go wandering. He finds his way down to the Batcave, where he realizes that the old guy was Batman. Bruce chases him out, and Terry goes home to find that his dad was killed by Jokerz (or so it appears. Turns out it was dad’s employer. Seems a colleague of dad’s stumbled on something he wasn’t supposed to, and gave Terry’s dad a CD with the info on it. Therefore, he was killed). Terry finds the CD, and goes back to Wayne Manor to talk to Bruce about it. (Derek Power’s, dad’s employer, had bought out and merged Wayne Enterprises and his own business long before.) Terry leaves to take the CD to Commissioner Gordon (Sorry, not James. He’d be long gone. Try Barbara) but is waylaid by Derek Powers and is forced to turn the CD over. After a bit of thinking, Terry goes back to Wayne Manor to “borrow” the batsuit. He goes to Wayne-Powers, and is doing pretty well until Bruce gets on the intercom embedded in the suit. He tells Terry to get back to the Batcave, which Terry’s having none of, considering that Powers had his dad killed. He wants revenge, and he wants it now. Bruce paralyzes the suit, but relents when Terry is about to be killed by the security guy thugs. He guides Terry over the intercom on how to get down to the loading bay, where Terry stops the shipment of chemical weapons that his dad found out about. Powers is affected by the chemicals when they spill, but not killed. That’ll come back to bite shortly, I’m sure.

This is a seriously awesome batsuit. It can fly.

Afterwards, Terry goes home. (He’s living with his mom at this point). Bruce stops by to see Terry and his mom. He neatly creates just a bit of a cover story, saying that Terry had once saved him from a gang of Jokerz. He offers Terry a job as his personal assistant, or, to put it another way, as the new Batman under his guidance. Terry, of course, accepts the job, and becomes the new Batman.

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I watched all three seasons, and enjoyed the show a lot. There’s a few corny episodes but overall, it was pretty good. You find out some small (or not so small, as the case may be) bits of key info about Terry and by extension, Bruce in the JLU episode “Epilogue.” I won’t spoil it here, but the episode sheds a bit of light on the series. The movie Return of the Joker, originally intended to be the series finale, (but then they gave us the JLU episode) deals with the demise of Joker, and the final fate of the last Robin, Tim Drake. I was crying a bit toward the end, (and I don’t usually do that!) but Terry got a pretty awesome speech about how crummy the Joker was… to the Joker. I actually liked the movie.

Overall, this is a great show and continuation of the Batman story. It’s rated TV-PG and it’s actually pretty dark (it is Batman, after all) so I have to recommend it for 1o or 11 and up. There’s a bit of innuendo (they are teenagers) and definitely a lot of violence. Still, I like it. Plus, the title credits are awesome.

Have fun this morning!