Movies, TV, Toons, and Games... Random Thoughts from Random Me. :D

Typing a new random entry to my not-so-private online journal… thing…

I’m not sure what to talk about given the fact I’m really sore and really tired and my head (brain [mind {noggin’}]) is not really thinking straight. That said, I will give it a shot. What’s more, I will attempt to do so without going into the subject of video games (maybe [possibly {probably not <BRACKETS>}]).

The newest trailer for Captain America: Winter Soldier was released a scant few days ago. Keeping this part of the entry short and to the point, it looks like it has the potential to be the best post-Avengers film Marvel has in the works (currently). Thor: Dark World looks impressive, but I’ve read a lot about trouble production and I have to wonder if a solo Thor movie can overcome the hurdle the first film had (i.e. being too weird for non-comic fans to really get and not being popular enough amongst comic fans to make big numbers). That said, with the internet having an obsession with Tom Hiddelson’s Loki and with almost every woman I’ve met having an obsession with Thor (and/or his abs), I think it’s safe to say that Thor 2 will do better than its predecessor, and I’m interested to see by how much.

All that said, Captain America 2 (Cap2) looks pretty damn good. First off, the screenplay has already been given blessing from the original writer of the Winter Soldier story line from the comics. For those who don’t follow comic book news, this is not a very common occurrence (see Watchmen). So right out of the gate, we have a good idea that the writing is REALLY good. On top of that, the trailer itself sold the movie as a James Bond/Jason Bourne style spy movie, but all in the dressings of a big super-hero action film with one of the Avengers in it. I’m not great at math, but, to me, that adds up to a lot of good ideas rolled into one excellent sounding piece of film. Unlike the rest of the Avengers cast, Chris Evans seems to be the most willing to jump back into another film without really caring about pay. I’m not knocking RDJ or Chris Hemsworth on that regard, but it is nice to know that there isn’t any politics behind the scenes that may lower the overall quality of the film.

To sum that part up, Thor 2 is out next week and I’m looking forward to seeing it. And that will be followed up with Cap2 coming out just before my next birthday by two days. So, yeah, very much excited.

With the new season of TV started, there’s only four shows I’m really following because the rest either stopped for whatever reason or because they don’t resume until January. Once Upon a Time has taken a strange turn where everyone is on an island trying to find Henry, who has been kidnapped by Peter Pan. Oh, did I mention this was in fucking Neverland? It’s been a somewhat slow season, mostly building up the characters and their relationships, but it all comes off as rather expected. Hook wants to bone Emma. Charming doesn’t respect Hook for that or for his piracy (sounds a lot like EA). Snow hasn’t really done much other than preach about hope and being annoying. Regina is… being Regina. And Emma is the glue holding this mismatched crew together. We’ve seen a little of Rumple, but not enough to really keep me all that interested. Even worse is the fact that he keeps having these moral dilemmas about trying to help instead of just taking action. I get he’s torn about saving his grandson given the whole prophecy thing mentioned rather last minute to the audience to build tension. BUT we don’t need to spend multiple episodes with his indecision. Then again, I’m that guy who gets frustrated when someone at work takes longer than five seconds to tell me what the fuck they want for food.

Another show I’ve been regularly watching is Agents of SHIELD, which is Marvel’s attempt to make a TV series tied to their movie verse for some transmedia action. So think Pokemon, but with less focus on marketing to children… actually, it’s pretty much the same fucking thing. Credit to Marvel for at least making the show have good production costs behind it, making it look really good is important since everyone will actively be comparing it to how the movies look. That said, I just wish the story was a bit better. The first few episodes really drag on and don’t really get to anything interesting all that quick. Admittedly, I was happy to see the episode about Graviton… only to be disappointed it was nothing more than an origin story. However the last two episodes were surprisingly good and I’m hoping the series will only go uphill from here. Now if only we could get a decent live-action X-Men TV show, then everything would be right with the world.

Thirdly would be Modern Family, which I suppose doesn’t really count since it’s a sitcom and we all know plots of a sitcom generally end with a “reset” before going on to the next pointless episodic venture. But Modern Family is part of the more recent trend of “smarter sitcoms” like Community and The Office where the general idea is to remain episodic, but the characters do change, grow, and “evolve” over time to make it seem less fictional than it really is. And this season has some of the best writing and acting for Modern Family yet and I’m really enjoying where it’s going right now.

Lastly, we have Walking Dead which is the last of the new season to start off, probably to let those of us who watched Breaking Bad get over the fact our favorite show is over. Hate to follow up that stellar act with an agonizingly slow and insipid show… OH WAIT! Much to the credit of this season, Walking Dead did hit the ground running (lol) by throwing in a new plot twist about an infection that kills people, which then means they’ll come back as zombambos. It’s interesting, but since we all know who the highest paid actors are, it’s pretty obvious who WILL survive. Though I think it’d be fucking ballsy, and thus, impressive to kill off Rick and Daryl this season. I’m not wanting the show to do that, but I think it’d be impressive. Do what Dark Knight Rises lacked the skill and metaphorical balls to do. But we’ll see if this series manages to stand out from the previous seasons. … Oh, and there’s some red herring plot thread about the Governor from the previous season still being alive… which he probably isn’t. So can we stop throwing out hints that he might still be alive… because he isn’t. And if he is, this show is more bullshit than I thought. Then again, I just watched an episode where a guy was swarmed by a horde of those rotted motherfuckers and the camera (and group) left that scene, only to have him show up minutes later having escaped. No bites. Nothing. So if any show specialized in bullshit, it’d be this one.

Outside of the big shows listed above, I’m also following RWBY, Red Vs. Blue Season 11, The Gauntlet and Legend of Korra. All three of which are genuinely superior to the above shows in a lot of ways.

RVB11 is using this season to pretty much hit the reset button. It wrote off one of the most pivotal characters last season AND one of the most interesting new characters to boot. So the teams have to adjust, the plot has to slow down a bit, and the humor has to return in spades to make up for that tonal adjustment. There have been moments of depression and grief, especially in one of the more recent episodes where Caboose comes to terms with Church being gone (spoiler). But a new plot development (new characters suddenly appearing and needing an explanation) has occurred and I’m looking forward to tonight’s episode to see how the fuck that’ll play out.

RWBY, another show from RoosterTeeth (who has been hitting it out of the park lately), is a series about these anime girls with the coolest weapons ever conceived attending a school to learn about combat, magic, history, and other various bullshit to help fight monsters and protect people from monsters. So think Harry Potter crossed with Yu-Gi-Oh GX and you… really have nothing like it. I’m sure a similar premise has been hit on another anime I haven’t watched, but it’s also one I don’t care about. The writing is… interesting, though there are moments where I have to wonder what the point to a scene or action was. The fight scenes are some of Ouym’s best work to date. And the voice acting is some of my favorite yet. Can’t wait to see how this first season ends. Regardless, going to buy that blu ray.

The LAST RoosterTeeth series, and the most recent to start back up, is The Gauntlet. This season already better than last season with the idea of making Joel Heyman the co-host who steals the spotlight from Burnie on a regular basis. Absolutely perfect. Did I mention there’s an episode where the teams do a race through multiple Sonic games? If not, there’s an episode where the teams race through multiple Sonic games and it is probably the single greatest thing ever. Mostly because the two teams I wanted to win did AND Miles Luna (creator of RWBY and current writer for Red Vs Blue) is apparently a huge Sonic fan… Could he be any more awesome?

Lastly, there is Legend of Korra. I didn’t hide my criticism last season. I complained about the lack of deep characterization. I complained about how there wasn’t enough focus on the Avatar training or the war with Amon. I complained about how we didn’t get to see enough of adult Aang and friends. I complained about a lot, basically. Not that it was “bad” by any stretch of the imagination. It was just weaker than what Last Airbender had delivered only a few years ago and made it look so effortless. Korra, however, felt like a lot of effort was being put into the show, only to have the seams be all to visible.

Season two, however, has taken all those complaints and threw them into a roaring fire. We still don’t really get much Avatar training or Adult Aang. But the characterization here is definitely improved a bit and the pacing doesn’t feel like a constant rush to make sure every important plot point is made before rushing into the final boss who is kind of a letdown. How so? Well, for starters, there are TWO villains this season, both with similar goals (control and domination) but with two VASTLY different methods to get there. I won’t spoil who they are, as the reveal for one of them is almost too good to want to spoil. I will say I have a new favorite character within the entirety of the Avatar mythos, and that would be Vareck… the rich dude who is probably one of the most insane and ridiculous people I’ve ever seen yet… just watch the show and you’ll see why.

But it also is nice to get some back story onto the spiritual side of Avatar, something that was prevalent in Last Air Bender, but didn’t need as rich of details or backstory since Aang already understood the spiritual side of the Avatar. Korra needed the explanation and to see the history so she could fully understand it, and by extension, us. The two-part episode featuring the first Avatar was probably some of the best storytelling from that show, to date. I can’t wait to see where it goes from there.

Anything else… oh yes… BATMAN! There’s a new video game for Batman now, Batman: Arkham Origins for the WiiU, PC, and other systems that are largely irrelevant (to me anyway). I can safely say that I want it (because it does look really good). But I can also safely say that I’m more than willing to wait for a lower price or getting it as a gift. Jim Sterling (Destructoid reviewer whose opinions I generally can get behind most of the time) gave it a 3.5/10. His complaints boil down to a lot of technical problems, the new stuff being boring and the old stuff being just more of the same, AND the whole endeavor feeling like a cheap WB cash-grab. His evidence on the last bit? The announcement of DLC when the game was announced (not at launch, on announcement). The fact that a multiplayer mode was shoehorned into a game that has largely been successful as a single player experience. The inclusion of very lower tier Batman villains all in samey fights with no real creativity (like what Arkham City had). The fact that we’re dancing around in a prequel rushed out before the holidays to make sure WB gets that sweet holiday cash without considering the fact that rushing it would lower the quality.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to get it. I want to play it. I want to like it. But a lot of the evidence mentioned in regards to this being more about WB making money and less about them making a good game reminds me a lot of the Assassin Creeds. Namely that while I think the games look cool and fun, I genuinely don’t want to spend money on them because I just don’t like how Ubisoft does business anymore. Rushing out yearly releases of games, adding more multiplayer, Uplay, their indifference to their “good relationship” with Nintendo, and the focus on making games to function more as DLC delivery packages rather than shipping out whole games.

After buying and playing the absolutely depressingly short DLC for Saints Row IV, I’ve come to the conclusion that I will not buy DLC for a game anymore UNLESS it provides a purpose to the game in story (any Skyrim DLC) or in gameplay (Fire Emblem Awakening DLC). I’m not wasting money on $10 DLC bundles only to get an hour of story or a shitty 5-costume/weapon bundle. EARN that extra money with good content. Don’t just expect it because you think I have to have costumes where I can dress as hillbillies, presidents, and Johnny motherfucking Gat.

What was I talking about again… Oh, right, Not getting Arkham Origins for a while. Looking forward to Sonic Lost Worlds tomorrow. Also Walking Dead Season Two (TellTale’s game, not the vastly inferior TV show) is getting some kind of announcement tomorrow. Hopefully  a release date (or just a release). Still need to pick up Wolf Among Us because that looks fantastic. The year is coming to a close soon and the number of games I give a shit about is winding down. I already have ideas for 2013 GOTY, but we’ll see if anything else comes out to surprise me.