Bleach 617: Return of the God

Zach Goodier

http://readms.com/r/bleach/617/2700/1

Quick Note: Sorry for the late post this week, I've been under the weather, so please excuse my tardiness in posting this week's Bleach manga.

The situation appears to have turned, at least for the moment, as Ukitake's sacrifice appears to buy everyone a brief reprieve from the destruction brought on by the plans set forth by Juha Bach. However, as everyone attempts to break through to the palace, they find that without Ukitake, they don't have enough power to open the doorway. However, Kurotsuchi arrives with an answer, a device from his lab to boost everyone's power enough to break through.

Meanwhile, back in the underground prison, Head-Captain Kyoraku decides to talk with Sosuke Aizen, who has been imprisoned for the last several years. He is bound by numerous seals, and Kyoraku only has permission to unlock 3 of them to talk with Sosuke. However, after unlocking only one, Aizen breaks free from the rest of his bonds, and steps out of his dark prison to face Kyoraku. Does Aizen plan to turn on the Soul Society once again, or perhaps he might be able to help find a way to avert the imminent disaster?

Dying Light

By: Robert Murphy

While going into Gamestop one day, I had the clerk stop me before I left with my purchase and ask me if I was going to be getting Dying Light, it was a game I knew little about but one I was going to dismiss because it looked like another generic zombie game. This thought soon changed when about a week after it released I felt the need to own it. Quickly climbing up buildings and smashing the undead's brains in with various melee weapons was an instant joy for me as I jumped rooftop to rooftop across Harran. A virus of unknown origin has broken out in this city and since then communications have been shut down and the city has gone dark. Left to fend for themselves, the few remaining survivors are doing what they can to prevent themselves from being part of a fleshy sandwich but supplies are running low and a cure of some kind needs to be found. Enter your character, Kyle Crane, who is a member of a shady but supposedly good organization that is after a rogue agent and a file that he stole. Almost immediately though you find yourself in hot water and meet up with a group of survivors, helping them in various ways while trying to secretly complete his mission. 

Before I was able to get to the more enjoyable aspects of Dying Light, I had to sit through the brief opening sequence for the game but I didn't realize that the whole thing would set the tempo for the type of missions and story I'd be facing. Our hero, Crane, starts off jumping out of a plane into the blacked out Harran and immediately gets screwed when his shoot hits a lamp post and you get surrounded by unknown thugs, some secret agent you are. This mellow drama continues when you stir up a horde of zombies and are saved by some locals, only to have one of them be killed in the process, he was supposedly the best of the best. It is stuff like this that tried to open up massive amounts of feels for the player that just doesn't happen. The rest of the story mode missions follow this sort of trend, I believe one of your first missions for the game you go after three air drops only to have them already be raided by the same group of goons as before. You are told to move on but I took them out, an option that the game didn't want you to do but oh well. 

Other mission continue the "go fetch this" style of missions, I did so many of them that they frankly just blurred together after awhile. It doesn't help that the characters giving you the missions are none too appealing either and were just there to generate quests. Your character isn't much better either, I was already not impressed when I got taken out so easily in the first few minutes of the game but add on top of that the fact that you're just a gruff "yes man" character, I wasn't impressed. Moments when I spouted out sarcastic remarks are under cut by the otherwise lack of personality my character had.

That being sad, you remember me saying that I liked this game, well I do. These grievances were something I wanted out of the way as I talked about what good Dying Light has to offer. Once you're set loose to do what you like in the world, everything becomes your playground to jump, climb and explore. The game has the perfect setting for the parkour mechanic you will be using, close together buildings, homes and nearby cars will all be stepping stones for you to soar across the city on. I have a personal problem with heights so at first I was nervous about just jumping without looking where I was going first but this feeling almost immediately goes away as you begin to trust the fact that there is something to either land or catch yourself on. It's an invigorating feeling to the game and Harran is a perfect setting to have it take place in. 

As for your enemies, the zombies you will be facing do vary just like the ones in a Left 4 Dead game with different special infected to contend with but they aren't too frequent and aren't much more dangerous than a regular infected if you stay up high and keep your head. Except for the ones you'll be facing at night. The first time that I was stuck out after dark I thought nothing of it but I was shitting myself within minutes. Night is actual pitch darkness in Dying Light and terrifyingly powerful infected roam the streets with the regular ones, they will tear you apart in moments if you don't keep up the pace and get to a nearby safe house spread throughout the city. It is a gruesome aspect to the game and adds a difficulty that most games don't tread into but it is a great one to say the least. When you're safe in the daylight though, zombies aren't much of a problem, you can spend your time ignoring them or find just as much joy in bashing their skulls all over the place. It's an unbelievable thrill to smash these lumbering souls around especially when you knock them into a nearby trap set around the city but obviously avoid large groups because they will pose a threat.

The other enemies you'll face are people, I tried attacking regular men with my melee weapon but it proved to be annoying because they're just as smart as you and while you can find a gun, I would avoid it because it attracts zombies. However, they're just men so burning them works great and I chuck a quick molotov and get to the airdropped goods. Even when you're faced with armed goons this method seems to work because they're just men but the system of fighting them does feel off. Avoiding conflict is something you feel when you're in the game especially when you're outgunned but yet you're forced to fight them in the story from time to time. It's a bit of a flop for the style that you have seen work for the game and definitely makes you question whether or not they should have included human enemies to begin with when it doesn't fit what you have been playing this whole time.

Last but not least is the multiplayer which gets unlocked after you activate your first safe house. Players can take part in up to four player co-op and completely the in game missions as a team. Bringing your friends along adds an enjoyable element to Dying Light as you all jump across rooftops and smash zombies brains in together. Players can also create small challenges in-game for them to compete in such as the first to reach the top of an electric tower or the first to make it to a specified zone labeled on the map just like one of the time trial missions you can do in the game. For added enjoyment, another player or friend can invade your game when night falls and play as the zombie. That player plays a special infected with terrifying abilities like night vision, tentacles and spewing liquid that will attract a horde if it gets on a player. The Night Hunter zombie has to kill ten players to win and the humans have to eliminate five nests for the match to end.

What else can I say about Dying Light, it was exhilerating to explore the city of Harran, jumping across rooftops and doing something I would never be able to do in a lifetime which is parkour. Zombies are also insanely fun to bash into, drop kick and dismantle. It's like whacking a pinata over and over till you win a prize. If it weren't for the lack of a good story and the sub par characters then my score would be much higher for the game but when all you're doing is running around fetching this or that, it's hard to even bother progressing in the game to begin with. 

Good:

- Messing up zombies with your preferred melee weapon

- The wonderful setting of Harran

- Parkouring, climbing and exploring the entire city

Bad:

- Fighting the human NPC's just doesn't feel right and it's annoyingly difficult if you don't have your trusty molotov

- Lack luster story

- Dull and uninteresting characters that include your own

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Marvel's Agent Carter

By: Robert Murphy

If there was one good thing to come out of the first Captain America movie, it would undoubtedly be Peggy Carter. Not that Chris Evans wasn't a great pick for the movie or anything but the first movie wasn't as thrilling, except for the spunky and powerful Carter character. Marvel's Agent Carter picks up after the events of the first movie, it's 1946 and Peggy Carter is now Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) working for the S.S.R after her exploits during World War II effectively helped end the war. Despite this fact, her new male co-workers find it hard to believe that a woman could do anything other than what was considered woman's work back then, answering phones and getting lunches, that sort of thing. So, she is now stuck in a job where people like Agent Thompson (Chad Michael Murry) don't respect her as an equal, even her boss Chief Roger Dooley (Shea Whigham) doesn't think she is capable of real assignments either. This doesn't completely deter her attitude though and that's why when her old friend, Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), needs her help clearing his name she does her duty to get back what was stolen from him and clear his name. 

Much of the ground work for Agent Carter was already laid when the first Captain America movie came out, much like Agent's of Shield, you already had a few good cast members and ideas to work with. Peggy Carter and Howard Stark were already well played characters and their roles transfer over quite nicely. Peggy makes for an excellent lead character, her bold charisma in Captain America was already very enjoyable to begin with and now she gets to strut her stuff. What makes her so strong is probably the time period we're in right now, as I said, it is the 1940's and woman are going back to their homes now that men are coming back from the war. It's hard to see a strong female in any way with the mentality that men in this time period have but that makes Peggy proving all of them wrong all the better. I wouldn't go so far as to call her character a feminist, that word being thrown around a lot lately, but she does know what it takes to get things done and doesn't see why she can't be the one to do it. That being said, Agent Carter still knows how to use what she has to her advantage, I believe it's episode two where she dawns a blonde wig and sparkly white dress and uses her whiles to get to a protected mobster. Knocking him out with some spy style lipstick and cracking into his safe with a special spy watch, it's almost like a James Bond film from back in the day and I think it was meant to.

Perhaps the other great character to come out of the show is a new but oddly familiar persona and that man's name is Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy). He is introduced as Howard Stark's butler who handles much of his day to day affairs and while Howard is on the run and in hiding, he lends Jarvis's services to Peggy. He is a funny sort of character that I thought played well with Peggy's strong character because for the most part Mr. Jarvis is very mild mannered and isn't suited for the kind of work Peggy gets into. His character too is nothing like the rest of the male roles on the show, aside from Agent Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) the only nice agent to Peggy, Jarvis believes in Peggy's abilities and knows she is more than capable. Perhaps one of the most apparent moments that you see the difference between Peggy and Jarvis is when you see him picking up the phone in an apron and politely talking to his wife about dinner plans as Peggy talks about a looming threat. It's a perfect match if I've ever seen one and he almost beats out Peggy for my favorite character.

The time era you see is also fantastic, I have always been a big fan of games, shows and movies that revolve around the 1940's, men in nice suits, good music and the like. God, do I sound cliche. But, the whole thing is handled wonderfully with every where that Peggy or other character's are seen. Peggy spends some time in a small diner that a friend works at and it's something right out of an old black and white movie but with lots of color and flash to it. The night club scene I mention earlier also supplies some realistic feel to the era as well, Peggy's dress is just the sort of style you would expect to see but also roaring music comes from the band, everyone dancing along, it's perhaps one of my favorite episodes for the short series. Plenty of character also fit the build for the era, you can here old fashioned saying and slang pop up in every day conversation. It really immerses you into the world of Agent Carter and I absolutely loved it. 

The show doesn't get lost in the world of Marvel that we've seen lately either, the Tesseract and other big flashy ideas don't get thrown out too much. Howard Stark's stolen inventions supply enough danger and problems for Peggy to face and while mind control and some other out there problems come up, they feel very grounded. Howard's inventions in some ways make him seem like a mad scientist when you learn about some of the things he's developed and them being in the wrong hands provides all the driving force that you really need for the show.  

All in all, Marvel's Agent Carter was a great eight episode mini series. The premise for the show was simple and enjoyable with Howard's crazy inventions missing and needing to be found, Peggy was the only option. Hayley Atwell coming back as Agent Carter made things even better as her bold character takes charge and doesn't stop till the job gets done, kicking butt all over the screen. It makes the fact that Peggy Carter never was much of a Marvel story to begin with all the better, her portrayal of the character made a series in itself and it was certainly an impressive one. 

Good:

- Hayley Atwell still shines as Peggy Carter and I couldn't wait to watch each week

- Returning and new stars like Howard Stark and Edwin Jarvis were all great

- A fantastic premise, Howard Stark's crazy inventions and finding them before they do wrong

- Great setting, the 1940's comes alive for the story with a unique spy angle

Bad:

- Nothing, I loved the show

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Old Republic at War (Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption mod)

Zach Goodier

I love modding, and mods like this are a good way of showcasing what mods can do. That being said, this is also a prime example of what a mod can do. That might not make sense yet, but trust me, mod fans likely know what I mean, and while reviewing this mod, I will explain how this showcases all that is wonderful, and frustrating, about the mod culture.

Every turret is now a hardpoint, and they area all animated and pivot to face the direction they shoot. Very immersive.

This mod allows players to play as one of 3 factions from the KOTOR/SWTOR era: The Republic, Empire, or Mandalorian factions. Each has units modeled after the actual ships from the period, and even includes some hero units from the series, like the Ebon Hawk and Leviathan. This mod is space only, so no ground units have been made (yet) to finish out the galactic conquest layout.

If I had to pick between ground or space, I’m glad they went space, because space battles have always been such a blast (pun intended) in Empire at War. The models themselves are brilliant, with darker colors and animated turrets making them all incredibly detailed, and the hardpoints are assigned to individual weapons, making your ships truly feel intricate as they are made up of all sorts of weapons, engines, and other components that keep them working. The entire look and feel is much more detailed than the vanilla game, and this is why modding is some of the greatest joy PC gamer can have.

Now onto the not-so-good parts. As I said before, this is space only, so no ground units have been included. However, this is the tip of the iceberg. For one, galactic conquest is a mess, since it keeps all the vanilla units from the game, and your starting units are unconverted. The result is the ability to build ships from the Old Republic, but all of your initial units are Galactic Civil War. This means that if you want to conquer the galaxy as the Sith, or liberate as the Republic, or just kick ass as the Mandalorians, you’re going to have to find some way of coping. The only mode that seemed free from these issues was skirmish mode, so that’s the place to enjoy this mod.

Have Leviathan, will conquer.

Overall, this mod feels like a great idea, and some brilliant execution, that is only half done. This is why mods are simultaneously the greatest and worst thing about gaming. I love the detailed models, animated parts, and chance to play out some fresh and detailed battles from the Old Republic era, but I hate the fact that I can’t play conquest without further updates to fix these issues. There might already be fixes out if you look for them, but the main files don’t provide them from what I’ve seen. If it weren’t for that glaring issue, this mod would probably be, by leaps and bounds, my favorite SWEAW mod ever made, and that’s saying a lot.  

Skirmish battles are chaotic, and there are some balance issues, but the game is still a ton of a fun to play

However, this also captures where a mod can go wrong. Practical incompatibility with the conquest mode and a few technical and menu issues come up, like missing unit info, and some unit balance issues. What frustrates me is that it seems like these guys have everything modeled, animated, and set up, it just needs to be applied to the rest of the game itself. It seems like they only intended to use these units in skirmish mode, and didn’t think (or care) about the possibility that their audience might want to actually assume the role of the entire faction in order to conquer the galaxy. So unless there are fixes or someone else finishes what these guys started, then it might be on the back burner indefinitely, because I haven’t heard news of updates.

Good:

-Amazing models and animation for all the units, with individual turret rotations and increased blaster bolt speed.

-Excellent inclusion of all of our favorite space units from the Republic, Empire, and Mandalorians.

-Retextured menus look amazing, and the game itself feels much more detailed.

Bad:

-Not 100% compatible with Galactic Conquest mode, with all the starting units the ones from the vanilla game (GCW era).

-Minor bugs and such are common, and units are somewhat imbalanced.

Scully Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Horns

Zach Goodier

Daniel Radcliff departs his iconic role as Harry Potter to portray a much darker character in a less child-friendly story. In this movie, Radcliff portrays Ig Perrish, a young man who was madly in love with his childhood friend, Merrin, until she was found dead in the forest, and the entire town places the blame at the feet of Ig. Despite his attempts to argue his innocence, everyone is convinced he is guilty. However, he wakes up after a night of heavy drinking to find he has horns beginning to grow out of his head. Is this a curse inflicted on him because he is actually guilty, or is there more to this than meets the eye.

His power is really the big hook in this movie, and it really works for me.

Well, there is more, much more. Ig’s horns allow him to influence those around him that carry sinful hearts. For instance, when he first notices the horns, he rushes to the doctor to see what they are, and in the lobby a mother is ignoring her obnoxious screaming child. After the mother sees the horns, she soon begins to freely discuss her hatred of her daughter, and that she wants to just get up and leave her daughter forever. Behavior like this plagues Ig, who discovers that his mother and father also carry dark feelings towards him. However, Ig realizes that there is a strength in this power, since anyone who carries darkness in their heart cannot hide it around the horns. He soon uses this power to get to the heart of Merrin’s murder.

I wonder what the prognosis will be.

The story continues to build in suspense, as Ig finds more and more secrets about those around him. However, there is some comedy, as Ig turns the rabid media hounds on each other as the horns reveal their desire to use Merrin’s murder to feed their careers. He also finds out that several of the twists the case took, such as a witness claiming Ig forced Merrin into a car the night she died, were people looking for fame.

The characters of Ig, Merrin, and some of the supporting cast all really keep you interested all the way through. Motives of both friends and foes are called into question, and the horns are an interesting plot device that allows the viewer to see into the hearts of other characters in an honest way that is normally impossible. Some of it is funny, but some of it really shines a light on the hearts of everyday people, from priests to parents to cops, you see that everyone has secrets to hide, and that the only ones who can’t see Ig’s horns are those who don’t carry the weight of sin in the hearts, and so they aren’t affected by them.

Moments like this are strangely satisfying, as Ig's horns force people to be honest about the dark desires they normally don't reveal.

The story takes some interesting turns, and while the biggest twist wasn’t all too surprising, there are a lot of neat little turns along the way where Ig finds out dark truths about the people he thought he was close it. The is a sort of message beneath it all, that even the people we’re close to are sometimes strangers to us when we find out what they’re hiding.

In this movie, it's good to be bad, and I like that.

Overall, this was a very good movie. It is an R-rating, so don’t show it to the kids thinking this is a Harry Potter-type of flick. The only issue I had was some of the special effects later on felt a little over-the-top and outright tacky at times, where I thought they should have just left the horns as a less overdone feature. Also, there was some frustration with how Merrin’s killer kept escaping justice until the very end, where he would consistently find ways of weaseling out of things, taking advantage of the unrealistic gullibility/stupidity of everyone around him. Still, the story itself if solid, and watching the horns do their magic is an exciting plot device that keeps both Ig and the viewer on their toes, as hidden motives and dark secrets are revealed.

Good:

-The horns’ power is an excellent driving force in the narrative, and an excellent plot device that keeps the story moving and the audience entertained.

-Ig, Merrin, and other characters feel realistic and interesting.

-Lots of good twists and turns surrounding Ig and the people he was close to.

Bad:

-Some of the special effects at the end felt a little silly.

-Villain’s repeated escapes felt frustrating due to repeated stupidity on the part of several characters.

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Bleach 616: Mimihagi-sama

Zach Goodier

http://readms.com/r/bleach/616/2695/1

Ukitake reveals an incredible secret, and claims he has the ability to replace the Soul King. However, even if he is able to do this, what will stop Juha Bach from simply killing him, as well? As Urahara is, for once, caught totally by surprise with this new development and Rukia and the other soul reapers present listen to Ukitake explain what he is about to do, Kyoraku goes deep into the underground prison, to confront Sousuke Aizen. Does this mean that Kyoraku means to set Aizen free in an act of desperation, or is there some other purpose behind his actions?

This chapter finally answers a lot of the persistent questions as to the nature of Ukitake's illness, and why he turned out this way. However, it also raises more questions, specifically how he was able to encounter a piece of the Soul King's body. Did the Soul King cast away parts of his own body in anticipation of this day? Only time will tell if all of these actions were intended to save the world, or if there is some other intent. However, the most interesting part is the final page, where Kyoraku seeks out Aizen. This could mean that the Soul Society's traitor could actually be making a return to the series soon.

Mulaney

By: Robert Murphy

There is nothing wrong with comedians getting their own sitcoms and trying to make a show where they can display their craft, in fact, it's probably a great sign of your skills if you do end up with a TV show when you're a comedian. But, if The Jeff Dunham Show has taught me anything it's that not all great comedians should have a show of their own each week. Mulaney stars comedian John Mulaney who plays himself, a struggling up in coming comedian that is trying to make it big in New York City but hasn't quite taken off yet. He lives in an apartment with his two friends, Motif (Seaton Smith) who is a comedian as well and Jane (Nasim Pedrad) who is an off centered firecracker character that spends most of her time looking for a good man in a bad city. In an effort to get his career moving, John ends up getting a job as a comedy writer for Lou Cannon (Martin Short) who is a famous comedian himself and is now hosting a made up game show. It all seems like a perfectly fine setup but it is one that tanks right from the get go. 

When your show gives off a familiar feel to it, i.e. Seinfeld, the absolute worst thing you can do for your show is broadcast that fact and Mulaney does this around the 2nd or 3rd episode. One of John's jilted lovers exclaims that he is nothing but a Jerry Seinfeld ripoff and this puts the first nail in the coffin for viewers because if you hadn't noticed the connection before, it is now all you can think about. The similarities are very obvious and that was probably the point of the show, to be just as meta as Seinfeld was with it's jokes about making a show within a show, Mulaney obviously taking that one step further. John opens up each show doing his stand up which by itself is actually pretty good and can be seen as a saving grace but once the curtains open it never translates over into the show. For a sitcom comedy you would think the goal would be to make you laugh and you never get more than a chuckle for the thirteen episode series. You would think that veteran Martin Short or even Elliot Gould who plays Oscar, the effeminate neighbor, would spice things up but neither of them do much good. 

The other factor working against a show like Mulaney is the flatness and otherwise bland presentation it puts forth each episode. The show never really takes itself seriously in anyway and this should be a good thing especially for a comedy but there is a difference between not taking it seriously and just not caring and I think the show steps into that territory. It didn't care that it has the same format that Seinfeld did, it doesn't care that it isn't funny or that deep lull moments occur in each episode with bland dialogue and laugh less jokes, it just wants to be put on screen so everyone can cash their checks and go home. I really felt like they were just throwing things at the wall and seeing if it would turn out being funny.

Great examples of this include the episode, "It's a Wonderful Home Alone" where John faces an old painful memory of his days as a child actor and how he was up for the role of Kevin in Home Alone only to be out shined by Macaulay Culkin. The episode rips much of it's story by spoofing It's a Wonderful Life and trying to make you laugh at John acting like a baby most of the episode and his friends, well, not really caring. A fake Macaulay Culkin finally appears at the very end of the episode with his back to the camera too in a last hail marry effort of laughter. Then, there are episodes like "Patriot Acts" where John feels bad about not doing his military service and tries to perform at a USO show only to flop over and over again in the recruiters office and makes some bad jokes. 

I am at lose when it comes to Mulaney, most 90% of the episodes I spent with an unchanging expression on my face as nothing really feels funny. Moments where I did laugh I immediately felt bad about because I knew it was forced and what had made me laugh was at best chuckle worthy. In a way, I almost feel like actors Martin Short and Elliot Gould were added to the cast to remind you that they're funny so the show must be funny but that itself is the equivalent of spraying air freshener over a turd instead of throwing it away. That may be a bit harsh of a metaphor but truly I cannot see viewers getting much enjoyment from Mulaney and you were better off watching Family Guy or Bob's Burgers every Sunday night instead.

Good:

- John Mulaney's brief stand up at the beginning of the episodes

Bad:

- Episodes are not funny

- Seems like there was no care or effort put forth in the writing

- Despite cast members like John Mulaney and Martin Short who have proven their comedy worth, the show still feels flat and lifeless 

Scully Rating: 2.0 out of 10

Constantine (TV Series)

By: Robert Murphy

No, there is no need for you here Keanu Reeves because this review is for the all new show about Constantine and takes things a much more appealing directions than the 2005 film about eternal damnation. This John Constantine played by Matt Ryans is based off of the Hellblazer comic series and tells John's story of demon fighting and magic, but the former demonologist and exorcist is now spending his days in a mental hospital after a failed attempt to save a little girl from a demon. John couldn't just get to enjoy the rest of his life sulking and smoking a cigarette till the end of days though and is brought back into the fight against evil due to the rising of an unknown darkness. Demons and evil beings are stepping up their game, becoming more powerful, bolder and the same tricks don't exactly work on them anymore but John Constantine still has the skills to put them in their place. 

What's great about a character like John Constantine is that he plays the perfect anti-hero that you love to watch saunter about, he makes smug remarks and still can take down the bad guys. He doesn't act impressed by all the demons and amazing things around him, he even doesn't care that he has an express hotline to an actual angel and even knows Heaven and Hell exist, a notion that many people would kill to know. He, of course, has his light side that his partners in fighting the rising darkness bring out of him and the angel I mentioned before is also there to help too. Former Lost star, Harold Perrineau, plays Manny and is the one who pops in on John and tells him about problems or gives him cryptic clues about the situation he's in, to which John likes to make smart ass remarks to his infinite wisdom but hey, angels can't fully interfere with human matters or some such nonsense. We also have Zed (Angélica Celaya), a girl with a mysterious past but also has psychic powers, mainly premonitions, that aid John in a big way. He's also sweet on her. And then the final member of the team is the gruff but lovable Chas (Charles Halford) who due to a spell gone wrong by Constantine, he is now able to get stabbed, run over, shot, basically killing him doesn't due a thing until his lives end up running out one day. The whole cast is a mystery to me, except for Perrineau but play their roles excellently. 

The story presented in Constantine is one that digs into another favorite genre of mine and that is the occult, demons and mythology. The rising darkness that suddenly begins to appear is shrouded in mystery but it causes all manner of evil to come pouring out of the wood work. Learning about demons is cool but also theirs a heavy mixture of Bible folklore, one episode introducing you to one of the sister to Eve and another introducing the Serpant that led to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. There is a never ending amount of new material to tap into and while readers of the comic may have already scene some of these creatures already, they were news to me and ones that I loved learning about. A show like Constantine introduces you to a world you hardly knew and as cliche as that sounds, it's something that I very much enjoy. 

Where this first season suffers though is the lack of learning anything concrete about this new power that is on the rise. You can have great characters and a great world to delve into but you have to make some headway and even with the seasons big final reveal, you still don't feel like you've gotten anywhere. John fights evil everywhere that it is popping up each week and that's great but where's it all going? Manny often goes on and on about this darkness and how it has to be stopped but it never feels like anything John does is making any headway. You do learn about the organization behind the evil and at the very end you learn who is really behind it all but really there are more questions than answers to be found in Constantine and it's a sad fact. Zed also has a dark past and possibly may be connected to this darkness or even be used to bring it all together, if the people who are after her finally get her, but the thing once again is, we just don't know.

A second season for Constantine is questionable since NBC cut the first series short at twelve episodes but SYFY is in the background with possible intention to pick things up. I do hope something major comes of it all, the universe and characters were all solid for the entire show and you learn more about each and everyone as time goes on in a perfect, even and fair space for every character. The demons and lore behind everything are also great, no one denomination is put to paper here, John steals his magic and powers from all over the world and all types of incantations and powers are present and it sucked me right in. That being said I just wish things developed more in the story and learning what's happening, I feel the show deserved more episodes before the finale which in all honesty didn't feel much like a close out for the show. A possible second season may pick things up again but you just never know. 

Good:

- John Constantine is a smart mouthed and strong anti-hero type character

- Supporting actors and actresses do wonderful work for the show

- Mythology and demonology are all rich here and there's so much you can get into

Bad:

- The story could have made much more headway

- The finale and the final big twist reveal left you with a whimpy ending for the first season

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Seventh Son

By: Robert Murphy

Medieval style science fiction has always been a favorite genre of mine over the years, knights fighting dragons and the like so whenever I see a movie like Seventh Son my interests immediately get peeked. The story follows Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) who is a spook, a person who deals with evil wherever it may appear and either eliminate it or contend with it and sending it on it's way because hey, not all mythical creatures deserve to be destroyed. Although over the years it would appear that this spook has become hardened to that sentiment when it comes to witches, one which in particular he thought he put to bed. Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore) has return and wishes to use the power of the upcoming blood moon to bring darkness throughout the land but not before killing Gregory's apprentice and giving him a good shake up. Enter Thomas Ward (Ben Barnes), the seventh son of a farming family and is now the latest apprentice to presumably the last of the spooks. The two set out to destroy Mother Malkin before the arrival of the blood moon and her casting the land into a darkness that a hundred years ago almost destroyed the world.

The problem with movies like this, again I said I liked them but they're not without their flaws. Everything plays out in a typical fashion for the story with the elderly but not feeble Master Gregory continuing his fight against evil and also drinking away the pain of years gone by, friends lost, etc. This is until Mother Malkin comes back, breaking free of her imprisonment that, surprise surprise, Master Gregory placed her in when he was a much younger and arrogant man. The two have a history together that I won't spoil too much more about but it's left the evil Malkin still wanting Gregory and Gregory with a fiery rage for killing witches first and asking no questions later. His new apprentice seems to be following in his footsteps pretty closely as well but unlike Gregory, Thomas is not yet hardened by years of fighting and loss so fighting some of the creatures is much harder on him when they turn back to human form or appear human and innocent. It's not a bad set up but it is a predictable one to say the least which left me with an "it's okay" type of feeling while I watched. 

Something can be said though for some of the amazing visuals and creatures that inhabit this world, while brief, the fights between Mother Malkin and her army are pretty fantastic but again, they're brief. Mother Malkin and most of her generals can either shape shift or already appear to be quite menacing, her four armed master swordsman general for instance is quite a looker with a blue body and creepy smile on his face as he slashes enemies. Everything in the world just pops out and inspires, a particularly enjoyable moment was the fight between a giant creature that is known as a Boggart and springs from the ground underneath Gregory and Tom's carriage. He is a giant creature that is clearly lives mainly under the Earth as you see vines and growth all over it's body, it's beautifully designed to say the least and fighting seems to not be an option in most cases. This on top of many other monster special affects lead to some of the better aspects for Seventh Son. 

The other aspect that will keep your spirits up is some of the acting and actors for the movie. Veterans actors, Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore make excellent lead material for Seventh Son. Bridges plays a delightfully smart mouthed character who teaches Tom the ropes of monster hunting while he laughs and drinks the day away. In the scene with the Boggart, he is found off shore meditating in front of a small fire after leaving Tom to fight the creature by himself. Another moment is when he is listing off tools of the trade and hands him a flask that to Tom's senses wreaks but Gregory takes a big swig and refers to it as a "cure for cowardliness." While Moore on the opposite end of things plays the fierce Mother Malkin who can transform into a dragon and doesn't hesitate to dole out punishment wherever she sees fit. It is a role that she pulls off well surprisingly and she looks fantastic doing it as well. 

Overall, I said that my feelings for Seventh Son were of an "okay" nature and by the end of it those feelings don't change too much. Jeff Bridges creates a charming character with his goofy sayings and antics and that's where the whole appeal for the movie really comes from, it's goofiness. An off handed joke about one of the creatures in the world only being a level 6 in particular had me at a chuckle for the Dungeons and Dragons style referrance. There's also the fantastic creatures that inhabit the world, the transformations and appearance for many of the monsters are phenominal. If not for the somewhat overdone plot style of Seventh Son, things could have been knocked up a few more notches.

Good:

- Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore's characters were both well done lead roles

- The environments and creatures that inhabit the world

- Fantastic fight scenes 

Bad:

- A predictable plot line

- Thomas isn't that well done of a character, along with other left out actors/actresses

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10

The Loft

By: Robert Murphy

You could have all the money in the world and still be unhappy enough to cheat on the beautiful wife you have waiting at home I suppose or better yet, you think you're smart enough to get away with cheating on your wife and she'll never find out. Yes, there are a million different stories of cheating husbands, many of which think they're so smart that their wives will never catch on or that they have found the perfect solution for never getting caught. To their credit, I thought the guys in The Loft didn't have such a bad idea when cocky architect Vincent (Karl Urban) gets his four closest friends to go in on a little idea of his. They're all apparently unhappy with their current situations so why don't we secretly buy a loft together for our own personal shag pad. Well, nice guy Chris (James Marsden), soft spoken Luke (Wentworth Miller), sexist pig Marty (Eric Stonestreet) and probable killer/half brother to Chris, Phillip (Matthias Schoenaerts), all decide to give it a whirl thinking what could go wrong, turns out a lot. 

What bothers me right from the get go in The Loft is the fact that the audience is just left to assume that all these guys want to cheat on their wives, except for Chris who initially turns down the offer until he meets the very attractive Anne (Rachael Taylor). We do learn more about these men later as the story flashes back and forth between the present and the events leading up to the five of them finding a dead blonde in their super secret hideout. But, I'll get to that. The only one of these men who seem to be slightly capable of ever cheating on their wives would be Vincent, the cocky look he has smeared across his face for the entire film makes it painstakingly obvious that this is just for him. The rest of them are there so he doesn't have to pay full price on the loft. They genuinely show no emotion one way or the other on what they're doing or what's going on around them. 

This is perhaps the other big other problem with the film, all five of these actors just coast their way through each and every scene with dumb struck looks on their faces. Well, save for Marty who has his mouth constantly flapping. The current Modern Family star shows just about the only emotion you'll see for the hour and a half long film but he overdose it by a long shot as if he's trying to shout out to everyone, "Hey, I can do other roles too! See?!" The rest of them don't seem to care about the film as they put no effort forth in any of their performances. Which begs the question, why should you care about a movie when not even the actors give a damn about it?

Now where things should pick up for the story is right from the get go when the body is found in the apartment, the woman is found handcuffed to the bed with a massive blood pool around her lifeless body. Call the police should be the first thing that happens but no, these guys think they're smart remember? So they try and figure it all out by themselves, who did it, when, how and why? It should be easy to figure out since they're the only ones who know about the place and are the only ones with keys to the apartment. This being where the flashbacks begin to blend into the story and we are left to put the pieces together in this gripping mystery. Well, it's far from all that as the characters and dialogue never make it quite as interesting as the creators of The Loft make it out to be. The story tries to throw distractions in for the viewers by making you think there could be some grand scheme in the works that involves high level people you don't want to mess with or maybe the mysterious Anne has something to do with the whole setup as it's revealed her diseased sister was a patient of Chris's psychiatric practice. It's not half as suspenseful as it is made out to be and never supplies any shock or emotion that a movie like this needs in order to be any good.

When all is said and done, The Loft is a mess of bad ideas about five guys who never seem all that interested in cheating in the first place, they buy a loft and frankly don't do anything with it. Except for Karl Urban's character who apparently sleeps with every woman in the film. The whole thing fails to be anything close to a thriller and fails even more at trying to make somewhat of a mystery out of the whole ordeal. Maybe if somebody could crack the mold on some of the lifeless faceless on screen then I could have been bothered to show some interest but save yourselves the trouble and find a better thriller somewhere else.

Good:

- Not a thing

Bad:

- Lifeless characters

- Absence of any sort of thrilling moments for an alleged thriller movie

- Convoluted and messy story that was doomed from the get go

Scully Rating: 1.0 out of 10