Bleach 594: Rub-Dolls

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/594

While Kurotsuchi begins an experiment on the now-paralyzed Hitsuguya, Giselle brings 3 more zombified Soul Reapers to the fight: Rangiku, Rose, and Kensei.  However, Kurotsuchi isn't about to let anything stand in the way of his experiment, and quickly sends the arrancar to keep them occupied while he conducts his mysterious experiment.  Meanwhile, Byakuya has already dispatched several of the Quincy, and soon is reunited with Shuhei Hisagi, but what does this mean for the ongoing battle?

I'm not sure what to think of Giselle having seemingly zombified half the Seretei when nobody was watching, it just makes all these twists feel much more random.  Bambietta made plenty of sense, but how she got around to taking control of 3 captains and a vice-captain, all without anyone noticing, is a little too convenient for my taste.  Plus, Byakuya taking out 3 enemies off-panel brings some mixed reactions from me, as well.  I'm all for moving things along, so not delving into every detail of every fight is a good thing, but it's also somewhat unwelcome to take active characters like Candice and seemingly dispatch them off-panel.  Of course, they might not be dead, and could get up for future fights, but the Quincy have been sure to dispatch anyone who returned to them in defeat, so it seems that their fates are sealed no matter what.

Naruto 690: Ninja's...!!!

By: Robert Murphy

Link to the manga here

Hey everyone, after a one day delay we've finally been given the latest chapter of Naruto for all to enjoy. It is hard to believe that things may finally be coming to a close in this long conflict, the 4th great shinobi war took some of my favorite characters away, introduced new ones and brought a lot of unanswered questions to light that I have been waiting to find out since I first started reading Naruto. Naruto, Sasuke and even Kakashi and Sakura all came together in the end and hopefully it was enough to stop Kaguya permanently along with Black Zetsu so this never repeats itself again like it did before. You will have to come see for yourselves just how things are wrapping up in this week's chapter of Naruto and I will see you all next week for more because if we all know Masashi Kishimoto, things aren't quite ready to be done with yet. 

Broforce

By: Robert Murphy

Now while this game is still only an early access title I felt that there was already enough of a game to review and to tell you all about this hilarious new obsession of mine known as Broforce. The game is something ripped right out of my 8 bit dreams and plays something much like the old Contra and Metal Slug saga games but is frankly a lot easier and features alternate versions of your favorite action stars. Yes that's right, this game doesn't tip toe around the idea of making look alikes of the big name action stars of the past few decades although they are renamed to fit their new places on team Broforce. They've been given names such as Rambro, Brobocop, Bro Hard and many more for you to unlock along the way through the campaign story. 

Set in Vietnam, you and your team are put to the task of taking down enemy terrorists and umm Satans dressed in suit and ties at the end of each level, yeah it's an American style game if I've ever seen one. The American racist overtones aside you will be traveling through each stage that varies in difficulty from 1 to 4 leaving a heck of a lot of carnage and destruction in your wake. Literally, everything you touch can be destroyed by emptying bullets into it which can come in handy if you want to tunnel under enemies or make a different path to sneak up on your enemies. But this is a bit of a double edged sword as you can cause too much destruction and you'll end up with no floor to walk on at all or end up causing a chain reaction of enemies leaving you confused and most likely dead in my case. This is half the fun though with all the destruction and chaos that goes on on screen you'll find yourself standing still an awe of what you just caused to happen even if it led to your unfortunate death.

One of the best parts about Broforce though is the fun you have playing as the various bros and unlocking the new ones to see what the developers came up with. Characters in the game are earned by saving captured POW's placed throughout any given level, save enough people and you will unlock a new bro for your brotallion. The list of names that you will see are simply fantastic from Bro Dredd to Bronan the Barbarian to MacBrover and some lady bros as well such as Ellen Ripbro and Cherry Broling. All of which look remarkably like their real life counterparts and feature special abilities to match their characters, Cherry Broling comes with an assault rifle leg that she shoots from. Brominator is undoubtedly one of my favorites as his character features a robotic eye and can go full terminator when you activate his special, making his chain-gun easier to control. 

You also won't have to bro it out alone as the game features up to four player co-op play where you can all play through the campaign together. It can get a little hairy though out on the screen as one person can cause untold amounts of damage, two players is madness and four is absolute calamity. As I said before though, you always want to be careful how you maneuver things, each time you'll see yourself get better and better and learn to use the environments to your advantage. You will start using propane tanks like jet propelled rockets to take down tougher enemies and even shoot out the floors on a spawn area or troop transport so they die instantly. 

In conclusion, Broforce is a spot on game that will make you laugh at all the various characters and gameplay to be had. The campaign is short but fun to play through either by yourself or with your friends as you work together (or not) to beat the handsome devil's at the end of each stage. Unlocking new bros to play as is also good for a laugh as I saw many of the legendary characters from my favorite movies immortalized on screen with all their unique abilities at your finger tips. The game has the ability to do so much more with adding new characters, I'm hoping for a Han Brolo character and there was just a release for an Expendabros expansion pack that I'm looking forward to buying soon. So at the fair price of fifteen bucks, you're looking at a very solid Steam game for your library. 

Good:

- Solid price

- The game features all of your favorite movie action stars in hilarious 8 bit fashion  

- Great gameplay that is easy to pick up for you and your friends to enjoy

- Will make you laugh at all the destruction and chaos that you can cause on screen

Bad:

- A short campaign (so far)

- Don't buy it if you can't put up with the bronacular my friends

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

No Game No Life (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy

Everyone likes to escape reality at least every once and a while, some people read books, some meditate but the most common escape in today's world usually comes from video games. Sora and Shiro are two people who absolutely love games and cannot stand the real world or society, games are so much simpler for them for their designated rules and objectives are clear unlike in reality where many of us don't know what we're doing or why we are here. These two geniuses rule the world of video gaming and work together to form the group referred to as "Blank" which many people believe is a gaming myth but to those who have faced them, they know they're all too real and very powerful players. One day though they encountered with a mysterious proposition by and unknown person who knows that the two are "Blank" and they challenge them to a game. Turns out that this challenge came from another world and they are transported to it, this world is called Disboard and it is a world where everything is decided by games, the winners can gain anything, even whole kingdoms. Seems like the perfect place for the two and they set out to play the game Disboard set before them. 

No Game No Life, is a show that comes with an all around intriguing premise where two characters are sucked into another world where games decide everything and there is no place for killing, everything is decided by whatever game is set forth and to the victor go the spoils which can include whole kingdoms. The world of Disboard is ever more intriguing as you learn more and more about it, the world has many different races and creatures in it and is ripe with mysterious about it. Humanity or Imanity as we are called in this world is on the down slope it would seem though as many of the races in this world have advantages over us such as magic and physical abilities. But when Sora and Shiro enter the world, Imanity gets a fighting chance due to their insight and mastery of games that is on a super human level of its own. This skill though doesn't come from hours and hours of play but rather from the twos amazing IQ's that they use to manipulate and calculate things to a shocking level of detail that I haven't seen in a character since Light in Death Note. The two are a little off though as you will see as the show throws in some brother and sister love type humor along with harem themes and other fan service affects. 

I'm not exactly sure why there are so many fan service themes strewn throughout No Game No Life because the simple fact is the show offers a stellar story and characters on its own. You can do your best to ignore it most of the time when the jokes are mild and come off as a one hit joke but there are certain episodes in the show that feature so many varieties of fan service that it's impossible to over look. Tentacles, under aged girl themes, brother and sister themes, the show pretty much hits almost every style in this department but I choose to look around in because I was so wrapped up into the story. I genuinely laughed more often than not at all that I saw rather than seeing as an overall bad thing but that would be something you'd have to decide for yourself. No Game No Life will also make you laugh at these themes though as well due to all the references to games and anime hidden in the show. Things like a harem style video game are featured in the show which is so very Japan and is something we've seen characters in other animes play too, other funny nodes include an Ace Attorney "OBJECTION" plug that had me burst out in laughter when Shiro shouted it out.  

The pacing for the show doesn't feel at all rushed either, each episode comes chocked full of action, comedy and more. There is only twelve episode for the first season of the show but the whole thing wraps up quite nicely and definitely will leave you anxious to watch and see more. And not only is the pacing great but the show is just so darn pretty to watch and look at while you're going along, the artwork and development is something that was handled fantastically. The world is great to look at and really feels less like a video game world and more of a real world that could have existed long ago. It's the same feeling I had when I was watching Sword Art Online and saw just how amazing the worlds were inside of the game and it truly feels like a fantasy world filled with elves, beasts and more.

So what do I say about the show overall? I enjoyed No Game No Life while I was watching it and I eagerly await for the next season to start up again. The show does have it's flaws obviously and many, if not all, of them happen to be with the amount of fan service you will see as apart of the episodes. But if you can look past this then you're golden and are in store for a great story to it and two solid main characters who I enjoyed watching take the world of Disboard by storm and completely change how everyone views Imanity or Humans that is. 

Good:

- A great premise with some solid new ideas that I haven't seen in an anime before

- References to pop culture and video game hidden for laughs in the show

- Visuals that are absolutely great

- Sora and Shiro are two stellar main characters to watch

Bad:

- A lot of fan service that is not easily avoided by any means so if you detest that sort of thing you may not even want to bother 

- Characters aren't as strong outside of Sora and Shiro 

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Halo 4 Spartan Ops Movie

Zach Goodier

Note:  I decided to do a bit of a review of the Halo 4: Spartan Ops cinematic story as a stand-alone movie.

To start out, Spartan Ops takes place 6 months after the events of Halo 4.  The Spartan IV's are being deployed to Requiem aboard the UNSC Infinity, in order to explore Requiem and study the Forerunner secrets contained within.  However, the mission is complicated by the presence of Covenant remnants, who have already occupied Requiem with the same goal in mind.  However, the Infinity is the first ship of its' brand new and advanced kind, easily blasting through the Covenant fleet before taking position in orbit over Requiem to deploy the landing force.  From there, the story involves the Promethean, the Librarian, and Dr. Catherine Halsey, as the struggle to control the legacy of the Forerunners enters its' latest chapter.

The story is really interesting, with a healthy does of science-fiction mixed in with some mystery and a blast of action to keep the tension high.  It's also refreshing to see the UNSC becoming less of a pushover like it was in previous Halo titles, making Master Chief always feel like the only thing humanity ever made that was worth a damn.  This new era of the UNSC following the war with the Covenant really has humanity coming out of its' shell, and while it's the Spartans doing most of the hard work, having them make up a sizable portion of the UNSC forces makes everyone look more useful, as scientists and commanders all feel like more than a simple plot device.

The animation is all top-notch as well, with both human and non-human characters shown with a degree of realism that makes everything look and feel much more believable than in previous incarnations of the franchise's story.  All the ships, vehicles, and other technology looks cool, but at the same time believable, with the animation allowing for epic firefights with alien foes without breaking the immersion.  Animating this movie was definitely the correct choice, and the fact that they put the detail into it that they did was simply amazing, making it easy to forget that you were watching an animated feature in the first place.

Those of you who have been fans of the Halo universe through the years might recognize one very familiar face from recent Halo lore: Captain Lasky.  While most of the characters from Halo 4 are tied in, Lasky is commanding the Infinity, as well as the expedition back to Requiem.  Seeing him in action is a breath of fresh air, with his leadership steering everyone through the various crises that come up, as well as facing a moral dilema later on that forces a rift between some of his fellow officers.    

Overall, this was a refreshing take on the Halo universe, with plenty of science to go with the fiction, as well as showing an incarnation of the UNSC that isn't always on its' last leg.  The story is left in a cliffhanger, opening up the door for the follow-up to the story, but there is a lot of entertainment here, even without playing through the missions that accompany, and you don't miss out on any of the story, either.  

Good:

-Interesting science-fiction story that offers plenty of exploration, mystery, and general substance.

-Follows-up with several of the interesting supporting characters from Halo 4.

-More emphasis on a new face of UNSC that isn't all bruised and bleeding from always getting beat on by everyone.

Bad:

-Barely a mention of Master Chief, so don't come in expecting to see Spartan 117 kicking ass, because it doesn't happen.

-Thorne was rather underdeveloped as a character, which is a disappointment because as a central character I expected more to be done with him on a personal level.

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10

In the News: The Universe has been Hacked

Zach Goodier

The universe has officially been hacked.  Hans Lemurson has created a version of Minecraft that is playable on the new Minecraft game system.  Ok, so it won't be running Crysis 3 or anything, but perhaps a Mario-styled game isn't too far on the horizon.  The system is still in development, but expect Skyrim quality games with the next game patch... Or, you know, probably never.  Still, this looks cool, considering people have already started building working calculators, hard drives, and now simple game systems.  Our technology is getting so intense we can now develop technology inside of it... This is getting too Matrix for my liking.

Bleach 593: March Out the Zombies 4

Zach Goodier

http://readms.com/r/bleach/593/2500/1?t=2&f=0&e=0

The zombiefied Hitsuguya attacks Kurotsuchi... and after a short skirmish, Toshiro deals a fatal strike on Kurotsuchi... yet, somehow, he blinks and he finds himself facing Kurotsuchi, hearing the same words he heard before they started fighting.  After experiencing this several times, Toshiro finally stops to wonder what is going on.  Kurotsuchi's sinister smile says everything he needs to know.  Kurotsuchi's new drug allows Toshiro to be programmed to "reset" after a specific event, in this case, killing Kurotsuchi.  He allows himself to be "killed" in order to test the drug, which somehow causes time to go back a few minutes, starting the fight all over.  Trapped in this "Groundhog Day" inspired hell, how can Toshiro even win, if winning simply restarts the fight.

Naruto 689: I like you

By: Robert Murphy

Link to the manga here

Hey guys and girls, looks like Naruto is back again after a short break last week and boy was I was ready to find out just what was going to happen next. To recap last chapter we saw Obito give his last sacrifice for Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura and set off on his way to the other side to finally reunite with Rin after all this time. As it turns out though this wasn't the last gift he was going to give as he leaves Kakashi a farewell gift that would help him bring up his game in this fight with Kaguya, Obito's other sharigan eye. This has allowed Kakashi to unlock his own susanoo as well as a hefty amount of power to go along with it. Hopefully this will be enough to help Sasuke and Naruto in their fight as Kaguya has unleashed a ten tailed beast form upon them, not quite what we've seen before but mainly just a blob of all the tailed beasts rolled into one. What does this mean? and what's going to happen next? Well you'll have to read this week's exciting chapter and find out, peace out everyone.  

BattleBlock Theater

By: Robert Murphy

It seems like I was the guy who had always heard about the game, BattleBlock Theater, a fun platformer that feature ridiculous characters, abilities and would have you laughing all the way through. For whatever reason I never bought the game but now I have and I'm kicking myself for not buying it a whole lot sooner. We enter this delightfully charming world as you and your friends set out on a ship destined for good times and happy sunshine filled thoughts when disaster strikes you and your crew. Now you're trapped on a strange island dominated by your new cat overlords who want you to go through various obstacle courses for their amusement. In order to save your friends you must survive the obscene challenges on every level then get on your ship and get as far away from the island as fast as that ship will sail.  

Seemingly ripped from the imagination of a child, BattleBlock Theater revolves around your tiny paper drawn character who can come in a variety of different appearances to suit your preference. Your tiny character as I said has now been kidnapped by a strange cat society who have been torturing all who come to their shores by making them compete in events of their own design. In each level you must strive to reach the exit placed somewhere in any given level but also making sure that when you get their you have obtained three gems to activate it. There are usually more than enough gems to do so as each level has at most seven of the shiny delights cleverly placed and hidden throughout the chaotic levels you'll be playing through. Besides the level, you also must face the challenge of the various creatures that add for more pandemonium for your poor unfortunate character such as robots that shoot homing missiles at you as well as weird raccoon/beaver/deer monsters that will swallow you whole and more. You however can fight back against these enemies with melee attacks and various gadgets and abilities that can be obtained by collecting balls of yarn hidden in levels and selling them to some of the kitty cat wardens in the games level selection area. 

Perhaps the thing that most people know most about BattleBlock Theater is the fact that you can play with your friends and effectively ruin said friendship in the process. I recently had the chance to play multiplayer with Dibble on the game and my rage level peaked to all new levels while we were playing. The game of course is meant for two players to work together and is quite enjoyable even if you decide to screw each other over time and time again. Levels cleverly add challenges that will be overcome by helping one another out by doing things like hurling your partner across a water way or getting one friend up to a high ledge and then aiding the other up with a friendly helping hand. Then of course you can have some fun by not aiding one another or using abilities on each other, I deeply enjoyed blowing Dibble up with grenades and setting him on fire with a fire ball, he for some reason didn't like it so much. BattleBlock also features some deliberately competitive multiplayer modes where you and your friends can fight against each other in different game modes like a capture the flag game type along with other modes for you and your friends.

Now as many of you may or may not know, I don't usually point out a games soundtrack or audio features but with BattleBlock it is something you cannot help but bring up. The game features an insanely catchy array of songs such as dub step beats and songs that literally will chant about the secret area you had found. The whole thing fits the feel and environments for what you are experiencing and to add to the fun of it all there is also narrations and audience interaction that goes along with what you're doing. A frankly hilarious narrator will talk and react to many of the things you experience throughout the game for things like when you burn alive or drown horribly in water. Alongside this an audience in the background, which I presume is the legion of cats who have enslaved you, will applaud at your success in levels and cheer you on as you play, it's nice to be appreciated. 

Finally, BattleBlock Theater also features it's own level editor for players to use which let's you create your own torturous maps for you and others to play on. The feature is very easy to use and will allow you to create levels in less than a few minutes so you can play them or share it with others to try out. All the blocks, creatures and features are at your disposal to use in your attempts to make your own evil levels to watch people suffer at and can get addictive if you get into it. You can also obviously put others creations to the test as well and see the variety of game types that people have come up with, which is a lot since the game is a few years old at this point.

In conclusion, I have no idea why it took me so long to pick up such an amazing game but I am so happy that I got my chance to play it now. BattleBlock Theater features an insanely addictive platforming experience with many unique ideas and levels the likes of which I haven't enjoyed this much since my old Mario days. The whole experience was a charming affair right down to the music that was playing in the background of each level that I played to the crazy narrator. It is a game that I truly have enjoyed playing and if you haven't played it like me, I suggest you get on it ASAP. 

Good:

- Crazily designed and fun levels

- Artistically charming

- The soundtrack is catchy and adds to the appeal of every level

- Great level editor feature

Bad:

- I can't say anything bad about my experience with the game, maybe don't buy it if you don't like the kiddy styling but that's all I've got

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

  

Perhaps the Greatest Mash-up of all Time.

Zach Goodier

A Guardians of the Galaxy/ Cowboy Bebop mash-up? Oh.... yeah!  This trailer mixes up the audio from the Guardians trailer with clips from one of the greatest animes of all time, so give it a watch, and prepare to have a huge nerdgasm.

The Expendables 3

By: Robert Murphy

For a long time I would laugh and gruff at the idea behind The Expendables movies for the sheer fact that it is hard to combine so many big names on one picture but after the first movie I was pleasantly surprised and once again was proven wrong about big names in Hollywood not being able to share screen time. The latest addition to this film trilogy, The Expendables 3, seeks to add even more names to it's already full roster and returns for another go for the old dog  group of mercenaries. At this point though, Sylvester Stallone should change the title because we seem to see more people joining in on the film rather than being killed off.

Fresh out of prison, literally and fictionally, we see Doc (Wesley Snipes) come to rejoin Barney (Stallone) and his new team as they break him out of a prison transport after a 8 year lock up in God only knows where. But this isn't the only familiar face that comes out of the wood work oddly enough as the team gets a chance to meet another member of Barney's old team alongside Doc as a routine supply raid turns south. Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson) plays our resident bad guy who was allegedly killed by Barney a long time ago when he found out that Stonebanks was turning into the very people that they often were sent to kill. Needless to say this reunion is not only shocking but also devastating as Stonebanks proceeds to make things personal and unloads a rifle round into Caesar's (Terry Crews) behind to make Barney go on the war path. This though is just the tip of the iceberg now that Stonebanks is back, he has been making a lot of noise and frankly pissing off some important people, this include the United States government and cue Bruce Willis...oh wait, no that's not Bruce that's Max Drummer (Mel Gibson), our new CIA spook who wants to see Stonebanks six feet under, for good this time. This is something Barney is more than happy to accommodate, he would have done it even if he wasn't asked too but with Caesar in the hospital it leads Barney to set out and make a new team for a most likely suicide mission against Stonebanks. 

Stonebanks or rather Gibson was someone that I absolutely loved in the film, he may have had some stumbles over the years and taken some professional hits but God did he acts his heart out in this role. Gibson was meant to play a villain in my mind as he plays the cross and demented Stonebanks beautifully, you could just tell that he wanted to prove a little something since his name hasn't been on a major title in a long time and I'm grateful for the performance.  You could also probably tell by this point in The Expendables franchise that things are far less stern and serious than they were in the first movie, it seems that with every new addition things became lighter and more fun with all our big name actors making one liners from past movies and generally just being more humor based with action taking more of a backseat. This really shows in The Expendables 3 with the jokes about Wesley's previous jail time, they jokingly talk about it being for tax evasion or later when we once again see Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) make a "Get to the chopper" reference. Mel Gibson's new and welcomed addition to the cast in replacement of Bruce Willis also allows for some humor which was nice because I never cared for the stern and effortless antics of Willis in The Expendables. 

My faults for the movie honestly came from the addition of Barney's new team that he forms after firing his old one. This team actually was meant to take the word "expendable" literally and were never expected to survive the assault against Stonebanks and neither was Barney. This group included two MMA fighters, Mars (Victor Ortiz) and Luna (Ronda Rousey) which works out fine, then there is our resident Twilight pretty boy Smilee (Kellan Lutz) which I guess is okay and then a lacrosse player....Krug (Ivan Kostadinov). This team was honestly idiotic in retrospect because it was just pointless to even have them in the film to begin with especially when we knew they wouldn't be left to die or be killed and Barney's old team were going to come back in the end to save the day. The script for the movie just was not harsh enough to let the group die in the end and Barney and the whole team would inevitable all team up in the end to save the day, so really you could have gone to the restroom for the entire part where the "new" team was established and wouldn't care. The one thing that the younger faces did do for The Expendables 3 was add some more snickering and jokes about just how old fashioned Stallone and the others are. For instance at one point the new group complete dismisses the "wild west" style plan that Barney comes up with and replaces it with a better/more technology driven plan filled with gadgets and devices rather than blowing in the doors and shooting wildly. 

When you get right down to it I think that what I said before rings true, things are getting to be less and less serious when it comes to The Expendables movies and you have to judge it less as an action movie and more of a comedy with a lot of action in it. Stallone has been realizing more and more that it's better to make jokes about the age factor that many of the cast suffer from as well as throwing in one liners and references to their combined careers. Because when you get down to it, Mel Gibson raises a good point in the film that I think rings true and that's "How hard is it to kill 10 men?!" and you know what it really shouldn't be that hard. It's simply crazy near the end where there are tanks, soliders and helicopters all trying to kill Barney's team and none of them even get remotely hurt, so you just can't take this seriously. I myself though enjoy laughing along especially in this installment for The Expendables but this should probably be the last call for the franchise or at least I hope. 

Good:

- The action is still here and was extremely awesome

- The wit and humor strewn throughout the film was top notch

- Gibson's Stonebanks was a stellar villain and a role I think Gibson was meant to play

Bad:

- The new/younger team were just plan pointless having around

- It may be curtain call time for The Expendables movies but they went out on a good one here

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10 

TMNT

By: Robert Murphy

Growing up I was in love with those four pizza eating heroes that lived deep down in the sewers of New York City and I'm sure a lot of you did as well, kids today even get to enjoy new versions of the classic characters and have fallen crazy for these teenage mutant ninja turtles. Now we have a new addition to tell the story of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael along with their rat master Splinter and how they all came to be. Once more we see the Foot Clan terrorizing the world and it is up to the four to put an end to it and save New York from this group and their leader, Shredder. Will they be up to the task? And will the movie prove to spark up some childhood memories? Well let's find out. 

The first time I watched a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was back in the 1990's, where the turtles were played by men in big clunky and ridiculous looking suits but you know none of that mattered because it added to the charm of the already ridiculous idea of four human like turtles fighting crime like ninjas. Now things have changed though, technology has come a long way and we can see the turtles in a new way which should be better right? Well I don't think this was the case, the turtles are still lean, mean, fighting machines but for whatever reason the movie felt it was important to put a whole bunch of useless material attached to the turtles to amplify their personas. For instance Donatello is covered with random technological gizmos and gadgets to show how he is the smart one of the group and you just sit there and ask yourself, "why?". There was really no need for it and the turtles personas from the shows don't come up much as it is in the movie. The teenage mutant turtles I saw in this movie were bland characters, they had no substantial appeal to them at all and they're what the movie was all about so what is there left to enjoy?

The turtles most powerful enemy also returns for the reboot for TMNT and proves to be the greatest challenge they have ever faced before. The Shredder has always been an incredible enemy to the turtles in the show and he never fails to be one of my favorite bad guys from my childhood just by how skilled he is and how much of a challenge it is to fight him every time. His skills alone were what made him so deadly before but not in this adaptation unfortunately, this time the Shredder has a new fancy robotic suit that somehow comes out and it is simply stupid in my eyes. When we first meet Shredder in the movie, we see him training his skills by taking down armed Foot Clan members with his hands chained behind him, not taking a single scratch from the encounter. This was awesome but then why would you put the already killer warrior in a samurai suit covered in knives then? It was pointless and takes away from the Shredder character. His Foot Clan are not any better, we do see Karai (Minae Noji) make an appearance as second in command but she is barely even used or referenced as a character and appears weak and worthless rather than a strong character like in the show. The Foot themselves are just as weak, they appear more as thugs than elite ninjas under Shredder's command, they even wear weird masks that look oddly similar to the masks worn by the Immortals from 300 which makes even less sense.

Not much of what makes TMNT what it was to all of us is present here in the latest movie, when something does come up that would make you laugh or smile in nostalgia is ruined before it even happens. The one point where the turtles famous catch phrase, "cowabunga" comes out but it is ruined by a ten minute set up like a bad joke. Any and all references are ruined by poor set up and placement in the movie, the pizza loving, catch phrases, all of it was just a shallow pond that you're forced to swim in. I was mildly surprised by April O'Neil (Megan Fox) who was the one part of the movie that was actually accurate in comparison to the old show, she is driven, a great reporter and was the resident cutie for the turtles to pal around with. It may be a little hard to see with her dialogue being ruined by her partner and camera man Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) who attempts to constantly hit on her and fail time and time again. 

In the end, I'm so immensely disappointed by the new TMNT movie, so very little remains the same of the original story from the comic book and shows that it might as well have been an entirely different movie. What little remains of the original story was ruined with painstakingly long set up and poor writing. April O'Neil was the somewhat decent character hidden away in the movie and other than an epic fight between Shredder and Master Splinter, there was not much to enjoy about the new turtles. Despite all this, the knuckle headed turtles proved to earn a pretty penny on this latest movie so maybe a new director will come in if a sequel is in the works. 

Good:

- April O'Neil wasn't too bad of a character and was the closest I got to an original character from the show

- Master Splinter and Shredder's fight scene

Bad:

- The new Shredder is ridiculous and it's clear Michael Bay is taking his Transformers styling and applying it here

- The turtles are bland characters who adopt a new look that is just awful

- The original story is completely lost on this movie


Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10 

"Legends" Pilot Review

Zachary Goodier

Sean Bean makes his return to television in a new series that feels like a more mature Bourne Identity. In this new series, Bean plays Martin Odum, a deep-cover operative, who assumes a “legend,” or new identity, in order to infiltrate domestic terrorist, or other criminal groups to gather intelligence and find the criminal masterminds.

Meet Martin Odum

The story is really interesting, as it both maintains the suspense of Odum’s job, while adding some intrigue about Odum himself.  Odum is considered to be a potential liability by his agency, since he has been deemed unstable by many of their expert psychologists.  The reasons for this include innate trust issues, which is demonstrated early on by the fact that he went AWOL for 6 months while infiltrating a domestic terrorist group; but more importantly, he has identity issues, resulting in him unknowingly switching between “legacies.”  A lot of this carries a Bourne undertone, which is only strengthened when Odum meets a man who claims that he isn’t truly Martin Odum.

All in all, this carries a lot of the themes that carried us through the Bourne trilogy, so is it worth the watch if we’ve seen it all before?

Odum apparently has a family, but with his identity crisis, could it all be some sort of ruse?

In short, oh, yes.  Sean Bean really nails this role, especially when he’s playing a “legend” with both an American accent and a stutter.  This is all about Bean, who really plays his role convincingly, with a mix of humor and sternness that really entertains while keeping the suspense going.  The supporting cast wasn’t anything amazing, but not disappointing in the least.  In truth, this pilot was all about Martin Odum, not the rest of his agency or his family.  His role was established, and his story with set up, so there really wasn’t room in a 40-minute episode to delve into the other characters, and what roles they will play in the coming episodes.  The only character I can see having significant involvement throughout the series would be Crystal, who both serves as Odum's partner and likely romantic interest further on in the series.

Odum's who life is being thrown into question.  How deep does this rabbit hole go?

The main draw here is going to be the mystery of who Martin Odum really is, if he truly isn’t who he believes he is.  The show doesn’t give any solid leads, only asking the questions.  This is what a pilot should do in order to whet the appetite of the audience, so we’ll want to keep coming back for more.  And, of course, we’re all going to be watching intently to make sure Sean Bean doesn’t… lose his head, or anything like that (pun intended). 

Here's hoping he can hobbit his way through this series and stay alive.

Overall, this pilot episode was a solid start, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of Bean’s Martin Odum in the coming episodes, as he struggles with the mysteries presented.  It appears that Odum will be tackling different cases each week, but it is likely that Odum’s struggle of identity will become more relevant as the season progresses, and Martin delves deeper into the apparent conspiracy he has become involved in.  The series hasn’t blown our minds yet, or done anything to set itself apart, but with a pilot episode, it’s all about setup, and this show sets itself up for potentially great and exciting things down the road.

Good:

-Sean Bean… that is all… oh, and he hasn’t gone all Ned Stark or Boromir on us, yet (insert “One Does not Simply” joke here).

-Lot’s of interesting setup for both weekly and overarching storylines as the series progresses, as well as character development all around.

-Mix of humor and intensity that carries you through without exhausting.

-Starts out right in the thick of it, making the viewer keep up rather than exercise a lot of tedious introductions and exposition to spell everything out for us.

Bad:

-Supporting characters didn’t really impress all that much.

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10

In the News: "Legends" Series Premiere Tonight + NO Manga

Zach Goodier

Tonight, Legends premieres on TNT at 9:00.  We will have an episode review out later this week, and we're hoping it turns out as good as we hope.  Sean Bean is a man who has seen many death scenes, but we're hoping this series will see him hang around.  The general impression I get from this series is a twist on the Bourne trilogy, giving us a main character who has issues trying to resolve his own past.  Whether the memory loss is accidental or orchestrated, that remains to be seen.  But I would imagine this pilot episode will work on establishing characters, and begin setting up both for weekly stories, as well as a larger mystery that will have to be solved.

In other, brief news, there is no new reviews for Bleach or Naruto, since both series are on break.

Hercules

By: Robert Murphy

I know that many of you are already looking at the title for this article and wondering just why I even bothered with the latest attempt for Hollywood to tell the story of an ancient legend like Hercules. Well it certainly wasn't because I love the Rock, no not at all. Whatever the case I took a crack at Hercules to see if I made the right decision on trusting an already questionable movie. 

The story spends most of it's time making you question whether the movie you're seeing is truly about the demigod Hercules, son of Zues and a living legend or was he just a man of great skill who had just as skilled warriors fighting beside him in his legendary battles. From the way Hercules (Dwayne "quite literally a rock" Johnson) stands though you can see why most people would question the claim to his being a God on Earth. But you really need to pick one way or the other to go in your storytelling because through most of the movie you do realize that everything is just bluster being said about him but at the end of the movie you see that completely flipped on it's head and you're left with a big what the @#!$ expression on your face. It's a split personality issue that just doesn't work, I know what the movie was going for but it didn't pan out in the end. 

Hercule's mercenary partners feature some welcomed additions to the cast who really make me question my overall feeling behind the movie itself. Autolycus (Rufus Sewell) plays Hercules oldest friend and partner from when the two were orphan children on the streets trying to survive. His sarcastic outlook and cool temperament works well with Johnson's Hercules as he never seems to change his facial expression and baritone speech patterns. On the other end of things we meet the groups oracle character, Amphiaraus (Ian McShane) who brings a level of humor that I didn't expect to see. Amphiaraus spends parts of the movie talking about his predicted death soon to come and his readiness to accept it leads to some hilarious scenarios, one leaves him standing on a battlefield arms wide open with hundreds of fire arrows surrounding him. The rest of the group doesn't leave much lasting appeal, we have the standard Amazon warrior hotty Atalanta (Ingrid Berdal), a crazy spartan Tydeus (Aksel Hennie) and the scrawny nephew to Hercules, Iolaus (Reece Ritchie).

The group travels all across Greece, they take jobs wherever they can and deal with the scum that plague the land for the Lords of the area and a hefty sum of gold to go along with it of course. This later glimpses into Hercules's past life as a warrior for King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes) and his 12 trials, which further prove to confuse you on whether Hercules is a God or not. The groups latest attempt for riches leads them to the land ruled by a man named Cotys (John Hurt) who is fighting an un-winnable war and needs the help of Hercules to save his land. The battles further try to add a bit more mystical touches to the story with the warriors of the land talking about centaurs and men who have become bewitched by magic spells but these also become debunked later on and you know at a certain point you just want to yell out "cut the crap already" because it gets to be ridiculous after awhile. 

In conclusion, I much prefer this Hercules over The Legend of Hercules that came out a few months prior and was quickly forgotten by most. The movie would have been a more enjoyable experience if it decided to make up it's mind on whether or not it was going to be a mystical storytelling or not. There were some great names that I enjoyed seeing on screen, The Rock is a hit or miss at times but Ian McShane and his antics as a oracle waiting for his predicted end was spot on along with Rufus Sewell and John Hurt as the man with large aspirations in mind. It is a bit of a toss up in my mind on how to feel about Hercules, if a few things were done differently it could have been a more appealing movie but what we're left with is something in the middle. 

Good:

- Some very solid action scenes as well as the unexpected comedy

- A stellar cast of characters such as John Hurt, Ian McShane and The Rock

Bad:

- The movie needed to make up it's mind on whether it was based in reality or fiction 

- Not all of Hercules's mercenary were well developed and only show their worth in the action scenes

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10