For the Lolz: Tyrion Lannister Game

By: Robert Murphy

Link to the game here

Hello everybody, you know our favorite pimping imp loves his wine morning, noon or night and he is need of your help to keep him drunk and jolly to get through the struggles of living in King's Landing. This little 8-bit treasure features Tyrion Lannister and you must steer him through an assault of swords raining down upon him but at the same time catching the goblets of wine that fuel our character. The more goblets you catch, the more points you get and there are even golden goblets that let out some of Tyrion's best lines from the show. You are not required to catch every cup and there is no penalty for missing them so as long as you avoid a sword to the head you can get Tyrion as drunk as you want. It isn't much of game when you get down to it but I found it to be amusing and for fans of the show I think it will be as well. All the thanks goes to Vulture.com, so feel free to click the link and I hope you all enjoy the classic gaming style of fun. 

In the News: Dragonball Z Battle of Gods

By: Robert Murphy

As some of you may or may not know about a year or so ago Dragonball Z received a new theatrical release for the first time after the show had come to a close and it was called Dragonball Z: Battle of Gods. Unfortunately for American audiences it was said to only be a Japanese release and would not be making it's way to our shores but we all new this couldn't last and the time has finally come for all of us to enjoy another addition to the DBZ family. We all know that Goku is a legendary fighter, he has defeated countless enemies, aliens, androids, dark wizards and magical beings but he has never faced a God, until now. Beerus, God of Destruction, has awoken from his ancient slumber and is ready to perform his duties in destroying various planets and beings that disrupt the order of the universe only to find Goku has been doing many of the items on his to do list. This saiyan survivor peeks the interest of this all powerful being and we all know what happens when beings come to Goku, they fight. This will be Goku's toughest fight ever and I for one am excited to see just how our friendly super saiyan hero will do in a battle with a God. The movie will come to select audiences in August and we will hopefully see a DVD release soon after.  

X-Men: Days of Future Past

By: Robert Murphy

Spoiler alert!

I like many of you were probably very excited for the latest addition to the X-Men franchise with the recent release of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The reason I was so excited for this film was the fact that it is based on my favorite time in the X-Men universe where we enter a not so distant future where the world is in disarray in the wake of the robotic creatures known as the Sentinels. These robotic juggernauts were created by humanity to hunt down and if necessary kill them all because of the threat they posed to the human race. This though proves to be bad for both sides as the Sentinels are really out of control and doing things on their own terms, so to prevent this the last remaining mutants must send one of them back to the past to prevent any of this from ever happening. The only person able to do this though is Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and he must unite the younger versions of Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) when they couldn’t bare to be around one another, but uniting them regardless to save the future, for everyone. 

Wolverine wakes up in his younger self in 1973 and I say younger but he really just looks the same as always, anyway he has to track down Charles as his younger self but he will quickly find that he is not the man we all have known these many years, he is more of a lost and troubled soul right now. Ever since the events of the last movie, X-Men: The First Class, he has lost everything, mainly his dearest and closest friend Raven who was also known as Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Mystique will prove to be the main focus of the story as she is the driving cause behind why all these events unfolded and her passion for her fellow mutants will be let loose. Not only this but she receives many of her incredible martial arts moves and acrobatic feats that we’ve seen her use in earlier movies but weren’t present in The First Class, so no more useless little girl for this character. Also after the events of First Class we see that the only friend to have stayed by The Professors side is the young Hank aka Beast (Nicholas Hoult) whose helping him in his time of need. And finally we have Magneto who is in the midst of another extreme lockdown situation after certain events, let’s just say he managed to curve a very life changing bullet and people were not happy. The whole plot work behind this film is massive and where in most films so many ideas and moving parts wouldn’t work, Days of Future Past managed to find balance and fix many screw ups of the past films that annoyed fans like me.

Each of the core characters get their moments on screen which is to be expected but what is great about it is that it doesn’t feel like a setup, everything is important for the characters at that time and each character has a drive or motive to them in earnest. Charles is having a hard time as I mentioned and it will take wise words from not only himself but from Wolverine as well, I say this shockingly because advice and patients isn’t his strong suit and even he admits that. Wolverine almost becomes a teacher to Charles in his own way during the film and what he does for Wolverine in the future, he must now do for Charles, guide him and help him be the man he’s meant to be. Mystiques role in Days of Future Past was surprising to me, she was always a mystery in the original three movies and while I like her more since The First Class, I was surprised to see how strong of a character she is now. While the events in the future are important, the character don’t get much attention, the Magneto and Charles we know as played by Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart do get their moment but the rest really don’t, I don’t even think I heard Storm (Halle Berry) say more than one line. This was okay for me though, they all still played their roles very well and came up more in the fight scene portions of the film.

Speaking of the action scenes, these were very powerful moments when you see them as they deal crushing blows to our favorite characters a lot of the time. You will have to see some of your favorite characters die in their fights with the Sentinels, who oddly look and behave a lot like the Destroyer weapon from Thor. These robots are merciless and deal horrible blows to some of the cast and it really does hurt to see them fall to their knees, I won’t spoil any names though. Other great scenes come from the present 1973 story telling such as the incredible scene with Magneto lifting a whole baseball stadium around the White House and showing just how powerful a mutant he is. Perhaps the best moment for the whole film (comedy wise anyway) was during the prison break for Magneto and watching the new character Quicksilver (Evan Peters) who completely steals the show for this entire section of the film. And I know right about now you may be asking about good old Trask (Peter Dinklage,) well I don’t know what to say, as a bad guy he isn’t much of one and as a character he doesn’t stand out that much either. I don’t blame his performance or anything like that, I just don’t think he was that important in the film despite being the creator of the Sentinels, he just doesn’t stand out.

In conclusion, I am absolutely blown away by X-Men Days of Future Past, I knew that I would enjoy the film but I didn’t realize what a great addition it would be to the franchise. As I casually mentioned before, I saw many fixes to story errors the other films had made which was just great, it may be petty but the adjustments are probably really appreciated and were definitely noticed by myself. Everything was very ambitious for Days of Future Past as it combined the classic characters and the new additions from The First Class and we all know how bad that can turn out but it comes out the best I’ve seen a film do in a long time and was a stellar movie for the X-Men franchise.

Good:

- So many moving parts for the film that were all juggled very well

- Excellent action

- Both the new comers and old favorites performed amazingly

- New additions like Quicksilver stole the show

Bad:

- Dinklage’s Trask wasn’t a very good villain and was more of a background character it seemed

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

The Big Bang Theory (Season 7)

By: Robert Murphy

Spoilers! Spoilers everywhere!

If any of you are like me and have been following along The Big Bang Theory over these past couple of seasons, you’ll notice the same themes about each of the characters that are on screen. Sheldon is robot like fruit cake, Leonard cracks sarcastic one-liners at him, same old same old, and it’s been the formula this whole time. But when the show entered it’s season 7 it was clear that the theme was change and shake everything up a little with the characters we’ve been with all this time. Everybody this season will be either forced to deal with change or due some serious changing of their own and as we all know Sheldon isn’t the biggest fan of anything like this so it was definitely fun to watch.

Much of what ruins a series after so long is the fact that things get a little stale and characters settle into the grooves they’ve been placed into but thankfully things get stirred up for characters this season of The Big Bang Theory. Raj has always been a character that was looking for something to call his own and that usually involved finding a girlfriend of his own much like all his friends have. After last season he has finally overcome his inability to talk to woman without alcohol pumping through his veins. This opened Raj up much more for the writers of the show I think as he shows the most growth and use during this season. Sheldon though was the most surprising in his efforts to make changes in his life which is so very hard for him to do especially when it involves romance. Amy, who has long had to suffer with Sheldon’s tendencies, has finally started to crack the mold on him and even gets him to kiss her and even more surprisingly like it.

The show really belonged to those outside of Leonard and Penny this time around which was a very good thing, it wasn’t that they weren’t involved, it was just that the show was stronger when it didn’t focus on the two of them together. We all know where the road is heading for the two of them so let it happen but don’t make it what the show is all about anymore. Hilarious pairings of Sheldon and Penny and Sheldon and Howard and others are where we need to be focusing and that’s just what happened this time around. Sheldon and Howard’s relationship has always been a bumpy one and it’s no secret that they aren’t the best of friends and when they finally decide to air the room out on it, it becomes even more stressing, mainly for Howard. But the two find new respect for one another in an episode entitled “The Friendship Turbulence” and created two of my favorite episodes all season.

This most recent season also inspired some very excellent guest appearances which have started to appear more and more throughout the show, many of which from the nerdier side of the acting spectrum. Will Wheaton has been a welcomed addition to many episode throughout The Big Bang Theory’s span and even more so this season as he appears in four or five episodes. And alongside him we see a favorite actor of mine, Bob Newhart, who had appeared last season but was such an incredible part of this season that he truly deserves props. Perhaps the most heart warming episode is “The Proton Transmogrification” where we see his character pass away only to return as a Jedi like specter to Sheldon. He imparts very wise words to him and makes Sheldon realize how lucky is for those he has around him, prompting a tear jerking hug with Leonard later on in the episode.

What was great about season 7 for The Big Bang Theory is that it showed some very fresh faced ideas for all of the characters and really broke the mold getting them away from their comfort zones and mixing things up. Many of the same ideas still remain with the story and we do see the predictable happen with many of the characters but there’s was much growth in the writing that showed that there can be more done here. Seeing Sheldon’s personal growth and change is one of the best parts of this season and really hits you from time to time with it’s touching moments. It’s also good to see the writers finally give Raj a fighting chance and not make him the brunt of all the jokes anymore. I hope that things continue to trend upward for the next couple of seasons and we see even more come of the show that has shown it’s not ready to drift of slowly into the background of comedy shows.

Good:

- Major character growth that breaks the mold on many stale stories and ideas

- Guest stars were solid and excellently written into the story

- Some very solid episodes that I was happy to see and will pull at your heart strings

Bad:

- Still have some of the same stories happen here and there

- The predictable still happens with Penny and Leonard

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10 

Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

Zach Goodier

As a longtime Star Wars fan, and a fan of the original Empire at War (a RTS game of galactic conquest controlling the Empire or Rebellion), I was dying to delve into this standalone expansion to the epic strategy game.  In Forces of Corruption (FoC), you get an entire new faction to play as: The Zann Consortium.  Lead by Tyber Zann, you control the mercenaries, outlaws, and master criminals of the galaxy.  However, in doing this, the developers violated one of the cardinal rules of any strategy game: keep the factions balanced.

The leader of the Zann Consortium, a relentless man who wants it all.

Right off the bat, you get a new campaign for the Consortium.  The campaign itself is very good, with some interesting add-ons to the established Star Wars lore.  The new units draw from expanded universe material, while adding some new material, as well.  The campaign isn’t all that long, but it does a good job of keeping the game exciting, while still leaving you room to experiment, and more or less do things your way at your own pace.  The ending does a great job of setting up for more story possibilities down the line, but odds are we won’t be getting those in any hurry now that Lucasarts is owned by Disney.  The new units for all factions really do a good job of livening up the original game, and ads some more tension and conflict to the galaxy.

Silri is a Nightsister who has trained in the use of the Dark Side, she handles most of the Force stuff, and she can summon rancor in battle to fight for her.

Now both the Rebels and Empire get some new toys and heroes, but the main element that has changed is the addition of the Zann Consortium (ZC) to the factions, which has somewhat disrupted the balance of Galactic Conquest and multiplayer.  For starters, the ZC has the “Corrupt” ability, allowing them to establish criminal networks on enemy planets to siphon credits, as well as allow the ZC to see all enemy units on the ground and in orbit at all times (which the Rebels and Empire need to build units to do, and temporarily).  This ability requires money, but it doesn’t take long for the income to surpass the initial expense, plus the Rebels and Empire can’t get rid of it without using heroes and spending a ton of money, just to have the ZC corrupt it again within 5 minutes (and there is no defense against it).  This can really hinder Rebel economy, and even cripples the Empire.

The yellow fog represents corruption.  This is obviously the very start of the game because if it were later literally EVERY planet would have it.

The ZC’s units are definitely the most expensive out of the factions, but with all the ways of supplementing income, it really isn’t very noticeable.  This is hurt even more by the fact that the ZC has the most overpowered units in the game, with land and space units that can almost single-handedly dominate the battlefield.  In space, it’s mass drivers and special weapons that bypass shields. On land, it’s tanks that cover both ground and air threats with startling efficiency, and only a couple rivals that can really put them down.  There is some attempt to preserve balance, but it doesn't entirely work.

Normally, any place where a Super Star Destroyer and the Death Star II were would be considered a no-fly zone, but the Consortium has some REALLY powerful ships.

All in all, the Zann Consortium is rather unbalanced next to the other factions.  In theory, the idea of a new faction could introduce some complexity and choice to an already rich universe, and the feel of working with a different faction is very enjoyable.  However, when you try to go back and play the classic factions, you quickly realize that the scales are tilted in the Consortium’s favor, and if you could let the game run out with AI’s running all three factions, the Consortium would win about 80% of the time.  This really hinders the game as the other factions, since it quickly becomes clear that the ZC is the favorite, and their abilities allow them to harass you with relative impunity, costing you a great deal of time and resources to fix the messes they create.  There is no counter to this for the other factions, and it makes the entire game suffer.  I highly recommend downloading mods that rework the existing game, allowing you to eliminate the ZC, or at least add units or tweak the gameplay in ways that re-balance the game.  If you do that, you have a real winner here.

Good:

-New Units and Heroes

-New campaign that ads to the Star Wars universe and lore

-New gameplay elements allow a different approach to galactic conquest

Bad:

-Balance of power disrupted in favor of the Consortium, making all gameplay as the original factions somewhat tedious and frustrating. 

Scully Rating: 7 out of 10

Bleach 582-The Headless Star

Zach Goodier

http://readms.com/r/bleach/582/2392/1?t=2&f=0&e=0

I'm using a Mangastream link, since I generally like the quality of their translations better, but Mangapanda still has it if that's your preferred site.

This week, Ichigo quickly finds himself surrounded by the same women that just finished beating down Kenpachi Zaraki, yet Ichigo seems relaxed, even seeing the powers of his enemies, and realizing that there is more to them than meets the eye.  As the fight begins in earnest, it appears to be 4 versus 1, but behind the scenes, Juha Bach has sensed Ichigo's arrival, and has begun preparations for some unknown plan in the works.  Even if Ichigo can easily defeat his current opponents, will he be ready for whatever the Quincy King is setting into motion now that Ichigo has arrived on the battlefield?

Seeing Ichigo in this fight was awesome, it really reminded me of how powerful Ichigo was back when he first learned his bankai and rescued Rukia.  It's nice to see that sort of strength from Ichigo, especially after his extensive training and his delayed arrival.  Another interesting part of the chapters was finally getting to see some Quincy using their bows, which it almost felt like Kubo forgot about in all the time he's spent on this arc.  The last panel also features one of the Quincy we've only seen bits and pieces of, but he seemed to be concerned over a "choice," but over what, we don't yet know.  Hopefully we will get to see more next week of what Ichigo and his opponents can do, and just what lies in store for him on the horizon.

Naruto 678: My Will

By: Robert Murphy 

Link to the manga here

Hey everybody, it's Wednesday and that means its time for our favorite manga once again and God is it getting better and better. This week's chapter is entitled "My Will" and after last week we have finally seen Madara's plans come to light as he casts the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the world and put them under his dream genjutsu technique. I must say it isn't what I imagined would happen once it finally happened, everyone being wrapped up like mummys I mean but it is none the less interesting to see and to see what everyone's dream state is like, which you'll see in this chapter. Naruto and Sasuke tried their hardest to prevent this but couldn't make it to Madara in  time to stop him but can you blame them? They had their hands pretty full. Sasuke acted quickly though and prevented Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi and himself from being locked in the genjutsu by shielding them in his susanoo. Now they have to figure out their next move and see if they can put an end to this nightmare that Madara has put the world into. It's another fantastic chapter of Naruto goodness everyone so hop on in and enjoy, I'll see you all next time.  

Wolfenstein: The New Order

By: Robert Murphy

There is hardly anyone in the world of gaming that hasn’t at one time or another heard the name Wolfenstein and frankly that’s the way it should be for it’s an iconic part of gaming culture and guess what? There’s another one out and I got my hands on it. Imagine where the world would be without Nazis in video gaming culture, we owe them quite a lot and the question has been asked thousands of times by people and that question is, what would happen if the Nazis won World War 2? Well in Wolfenstein: The New Order we find out what would happen, if not in a somewhat ridiculously awesome way that it is well known for. This time around the Nazis completely took over the entire world as the Nazi war machine just kept going and going never stopping until it had complete domination of everything. The only hope of resistance comes from the franchises BJ Blazcowicz who loves to kill Nazis and does a good job doing it, which is good because the world is in dire need of saving and Nazi killing.

The first part of the game takes a flashback to an early attack on General Deathshead’s super villain style castle; this serves as an introduction to the game and sets the wheels in motion for the entire game. Once this is complete we fast-forward 14 years into the future, it’s 1960, the war is over and you have been in a vegetable like state the whole time and awaken to this hellish nightmare where Germans are absolutely everywhere and run everything. While this is a scary thing to imagine it is exceedingly interesting to look at, developers at Machinegames spare no expense at changing little things in the world in funny ways like making The Beetles into a German supporting alternate and so on. They also hit the major big ones such as the giant cities made by the Germans and the grotesque creation they made such as the Nazi Supersoliders or German Shepards with robotic exosuits attached to them. It’s ridiculous but so ridiculous that it works, the thought of giant building sized robots coming into battle or tiger like robots hunting you in suspenseful chase scenes, it’s all out there but I love it. The story itself is a very solid piece of work compared to previous games; the writing for instance is very compelling. Blazcowicz may have been known only for being a Nazi killing machine before but now he receives more depth as a character and becomes far more relatable especially with his relationships. He receives a very interesting love interest this time around along with some fellow rebels against the Reich who are just as appealing such as Caroline Becker, a former friend in the war before you disappeared and who unlike you hasn’t aged as well.

Wolfenstein: The New Order runs very smoothly as a first person shooter as well, it may not feature anything revolutionary when it comes to a FPS but it is very solid. You receive the standard weaponry in the game such as assault rifles, pistols and knives but you also get your hands on some of the crazy weaponry developed by the Nazis in the future. Automatic shotguns, tesla grenades and a lazer rifle are some of the things you’ll get your hands on and it’s really interesting to see the concepts behind future technology the Germans may have developed. From here we also see the addition of a dual wielding feature, while this is nice and fun at times, it can be a little impractical as it is hard to move with both weapons and in a high stress gun fight it causes more harm than good. A particularly enjoyable element to the game was the stealth, I could go around dual wielding knives and chucking them at my enemies and I felt like a ninja but it is where I noticed how dumb your AI enemies can be. One point in the game I was down a hallway and turned around to find a patrolling guard at the other end and even though a bat could have scene me, he for some reason continued on his merry way. The AI can be a bit dumb and this may have been because the game has never been one for stealth so they cut you a break here and there but if I were a Nazi I’d think I’d notice if I walked over one of my friends and he had a knife in his head, that’s just me.

What is an enjoyable change up for Wolfenstein: The New Order is the skill tree mechanics you will come across. Rather than you building up XP or earning skill points, you earn new skills buy doing various things in the game, many of which involve you killing Nazis in a variety of ways. You want more knives to throw at your enemies? Start sneaking around and assassinating people, want faster reloading whiles your dual wielding? Then start @#$%ing things up with two shotguns in your hands. It all boils down to you getting out into the game and doing these things and you know it felt like I was earning them rather than just buying them at the upgrade store which was really quite nice.

The Wolfenstein games have always made history with it’s take on World War 2 and the Nazi regime, it’s a cut above the rest when you think about other alternate universe type of games that have tried and failed. With Wolfenstein: The New Order though things get even better for the franchise in terms of it’s well crafted story and much more enjoyable and relatable characters. Blazcowicz isn’t just a mindless potato headed Nazi killing machine anymore; he receives real depth and becomes a much more appealing main character to play as. And while the world that comes out of the Nazi regime is completely ridiculous it somehow doesn’t feel so far fetched, we see many things that the Nazis did actually take part in such as human experimentation and the heinous camps where they rounded up the mentally challenged and more, it can be very gripping at times making for a Wolfenstein that is the best its ever been.  

Good:

- Blazcowicz and other characters are compelling and well done

- The story is stellar for a game that could simply be a mindless Nazi killer, it’s surprisingly good

- Another stellar Wolfenstein adaptation on what would of happened if the Nazis won the war

Bad:

- Dual wielding while interesting is pointless and impairing

- AI can be a bit dumbed down when it comes to not seeing you in plain sight

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10 

Happy Memorial Day + Game of Thrones Trailer

Zach Goodier

It's Memorial Day for us, which has kept us busy most of the day with celebrations and memorials.  So since we've basically taken the day off to celebrate and remember, here's a little something to whet your appetite for Game of Thrones this coming Sunday.  There was no episode yesterday, which left me getting a preview of what life will be like once the season ends (it wasn't pretty).  So here's a trailer for next week's episode, enjoy.

From all of us here at Scully Nerd Reviews, we hope you had, or are still having, a great Memorial Day.  Remember to take a moment to remember the ones who have fallen to protect us.  If you're viewing this page and you are not an American, then remember those who have fallen to protect your home, wherever you live.  

FTL: Faster Than Light

By: Robert Murphy

You know, sometimes I don't know how I stumble across these certain games but I'm always glad when I give them a chance and check them out. My latest find is a game called FTL or Faster Than Light and it allows you to take control of your very own ship and it's crew to explore the galaxy but things often come at a treacherous cost as space can be dangerous. This top-down strategy game has a pension for not wanting you to survive long enough to reach your destination with all manner of stress causing things to stop you such as pirate ships, aliens, imploding stars, meteor showers and much more. As a ship for the Federation you must survive though and get the vital information you have aboard before the rebel forces catch up to you. And despite it's never ending quest to kill you, Faster Than Light will have you hooked time and time again making you want to make it further than you did before.

Now when I first took my ship for a stroll I was a little daunted by all the different things that I needed to keep track of on my ship but somehow once you go through your tutorial it all becomes a breeze, that is until things start blowing up all at once but we'll get to that. Your ship is the Kestrel or you can name it something else if you wish and you can do the same with your crew if you want to as well. You look at your ship from a top down perspective where you see each room, many of which occupy various ship mechanics like shields and weapons. From here you set out trying to make it from one zone to the next by making it to relay points in each area, you will of course come under attack or have something unfortunate thing happen to you on your journey. As enemies attack you they will either damage your hull or cause the various mechanics of your ship to break and shut down, this is where your crew comes in. You must send your crew to fix anything that goes wrong on your ship or you'll end up dead that much faster, if your shields get damaged for instance they'll shut down and you'll be a sitting duck. But during battle you can do the very same thing to enemy ships, targeting vital functions like the oxygen systems or the ships engines preventing them from escaping your wrath.  

FTL is a game that really tests your compartmentalization skills with all the various things that you have to deal with and somehow it makes it incredibly fun even when it all comes crashing down around you. And even though the game wants you to die it seems, sometimes its your own fault for being the goodie goodie hero of the story. Sometimes you will come across innocent transport ships being attacked by pirates and you can either save them or risk getting hurt helping them. Trust me, I was one of those who wanted to help but I quickly became cynical and said "SCREW YOU" its just not worth the reward more often than not. There's also the supposedly harmless moments where you can check out an abandoned ship or area for resources like fuel or androids that you can sell for scrap and upgrade your ship. This can often lead you to lose your valuable crew members and you think losing one crew member wouldn't be a big deal right? well you will be wishing you had him back your next battle, I guarantee it. 

It's sometimes hard to explain why a game like FTL that offers never ending amounts of deaths will not cause you to smash your keyboard in two or make you want to stop playing all together, I've seen my ship explode more times than I can count but I shrug it off and try again. Death more or less feels like a learning opportunity when you're playing and helps you do better each time it happens. The better you do too allows you to unlock more ships, new weapons and new ways to play or more often than not die. The pulse pounding game play is what makes things so hopelessly addicting and if you can manage all the problems you'll face along the way then you're a much better player than myself. 

Good:

- Endless amounts of replay value

- Solid combat system

- Hectic but oh so enjoyable game play, balancing all you can and hoping not to lose another ship

- Each play through is unpredictable and fun

Bad:

- The endless deaths might not be for everyone and some of you might not want to start over and over again

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

The Purge

Sean Dibble

The year 2022, and America is at an all time low in unemployment and crime. Reason for this is the annual purge on March 21st. The purge allows citizens twelve hours to release all their pent up anger and hate in anything crime related...even murder. During the movie we follow the events of a family of four as they try to survive the night locked up inside their home.

The plot of the movie was great in premise, but executed very poorly in the actual film. A night where all crime is legal is great, following a family as they try to survive the night even better. Where the creators went wrong is making it a home invasion movie instead of a out and about town slasher film that most horror films are going for recently. Now, I understand that they wanted to stand out but home invasion just doesn't work, it isn't scary and you know pretty much everyone that started in the house will die all but one. Where in a regular slasher film its unknown who and how many will survive.

Another thing this film did wrong is make it have the boy open the locks, otherwise the movie would have ended after the first five minutes. Now, understandably, you can't have a home invasion movie without the stupid child that lets a seemingly innocent victim try to survive the night in his locked up home; but, well, they should have had the guy break in or only have the killers come into the home. They had a nice story if they left the other guy out of the movie and left the killers to try to kill the family as the main plot line. That is the one thing this movie did right was the killers they were honestly kinda frightening and maybe a tad bit nuts. With that said the movie was terrible in so many ways it's hard to see how the sequel that is being made will be any good, yes this film is getting a sequel, and it does look promising, although so did this film in the trailers, so who knows.

I would like to say that I sadly enjoyed this film....but that is because I went into it with VERY low expectations knowing I have never seen a good home invasion movie and didn't expect this one to be the first. With that said though I liked it, I wanted to try and be the fairest I could be during the review but it cant get a good score because of all its failings. That being said that is why I think I liked it, failing so hard that it was good for me.

Good:

-The killers.....thats it

-So bad it's good?? is that possible??

Bad

-Story

-Cast

-Terrible decisions by the producers the entire way thought the film

Scully Rating: 2 out of 10 (and that's being kind)

Bleach 581: The Hero 2

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/581

Just as it seems that Kenpachi is about to die, and with him the hope of saving the Gotei 13, a sudden appearance of a flash in the sky makes the entire war come to a sudden halt.  With most of the captains out of commission, and the Quincy closing in, can anyone save the day?  Well, of course they can, you've seen these shows before.  Anyways, Ichigo is finally on the scene, and he makes a hell of an entrance, catching everyone off balance.  Now that he's here, we might finally get a peek at what his training with the Soul King has done for him, and how his powers might have changed.

These last several weeks, even months, seem to have dragged in this arc.  Maybe it's just having to wait a week at a time, but overall this has been a very impatient wait for me, and probably a lot of other fans, too.  I liked Ichigo's entrance, though, since it caught everyone off guard and gave a quick peek at some of Ichigo's basic abilities.  Even the comedic moment where Ichigo knocked a massive tower over making his entrance and "hurting" himself both highlighted how much stronger Ichigo has become, plus made it seem like some things never change about him, no matter how insanely powerful he is.  Now that he's here, I'm hoping things pick back up in the arc, and we'll start building up to our final battle with the Quincy King.

Naruto 677: Infinite Tsukuyomi

By: Robert Murphy

Link to the manga here

Hello everybody, it looks as though our worst fears have been realized and Madara has regained all his power which means he's finally able to finish his plans that he started so long ago in this week's chapter of Naruto. The chapter is entitled "Infinite Tsukuyomi" and in case some of you haven't been paying attention, this is what Madara has been trying to accomplish through this entire war, a permanent Genjutsu cast across the world that effectively ends all free will for the shinobi world. After last week, Madara revealed his third eye that looks exactly like the one the Rabbit Goddess (The Sage's Mother) had when she absorbed the God Tree and started the use of chakra. Madara's power seems infinite now and even with their new powers I don't know if Naruto and Sasuke will be able to stop things from getting far worse. You'll have to jump on in and find out for yourself what unfolds and I'll see you all next week for another chapter of Naruto.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

By: Robert Murphy

As far as the cartoons and comic books go, I much preferred the Spider-man portrayed in The Amazing Spider-Man do to the fractured genius angle and teenaged rebellious side of Peter Parker that is shown. It is a much more relatable kind of character and Andrew Garfield returns to this role once more portraying the young Peter Parker searching for answers to his past especially the secrets left by his father. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 puts more pressure and more heartache than Peter has known before and we find out if he is able to survive the truth he uncovers all the while dealing with his girlfriend, school and a couple super powered bad guys looking to squish him like a bug.

I was very eager to get wrapped up in another web crawling movie after the conclusion of the first Amazing Spider-Man movie and seeing Andrew Garfield bring a whole new take on the character we’ve seen in the last Spiderman movies. He once again does not disappoint me with many of the movies strongest moments being when he interacts with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) who returns alongside Garfield in this film as his high school dream girl turned girlfriend. Garfield has a much more playful demeanor this time around as he’s settle into the role of friendly neighborhood Spider-Man after his last movie and it definitely shows. And as I said before the Spider-Man role of The Amazing Spider-Man is much more enjoyable for me to watch because he isn’t the nerdy, whiney and meeker Spider-Man that Tobey Maguire played in the last trilogy.

Outside of Garfield though the movie takes a swan dive into jumbled themes and repeated conflict resolution and drama that works once but not two, three or four times in a film. Multiple times throughout the film Peter and Gwen suffer from a will they won’t they scenario and while this is forgivable once, it doesn’t work over and over again, it’s not cute or romantic, its shabby writing. From the point of Peter it does make sense that he'd be worried about Gwen's safety and he thinks of the last words imparted to him by Gwen's late police officer father played by Denis Leary but don't fall back on it repeatedly, make up your mind man. Then there is Peter searching for answers to his father and why he had to run away and leave him with his aunt and uncle, this would have been interesting if it wasn’t made into a CIA/James Bond style mystery and you’ll see what I mean when Peter finally tracks down leads to his dad. There were just too many themes being juggled that were trying to be done with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 outside of the action that weren’t well done enough and felt very slapped together like a last minute book report.

As for the action, I heard a lot of grief being given to the film and concern for the number of villains that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has going into it but the number wasn't the issue for me, it was how poorly they were used. Electro (Jamie Foxx) was an insanely well done character from the first time I saw him appear on screen and he even gets a humbling back story to show how he becomes the way he does in the film. But as the movie progresses he becomes very under used and under powered, this is a man who can draw power from electricity and drain entire blocks of their power who becomes no more menacing than The Emperor in the sixth Star Wars movie. Then there is the Green Goblin who joins the list of enemies and who is actually the only solid villain that Peter faces in the film because of the alluring back story of Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) and his friendship with Peter that makes the first deeply emotional enemy for him. Lastly we get one more enemy who is casually thrown in for Peter to face, Rhino (Paul Giamatti) who receives a very interesting robotic suit to terrorize the city but there's not much else to him, he's thrown in so last minute and really is the only enemy that doesn't make any sense for me to be there except maybe they need him in the next films cast list.   

What I have to say in conclusion to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is that it just wanted too much, it definitely reached for the stars and but it tried to do way more than one movie can handle and I'm not sure why. It occurs to me that maybe the writers were trying to set up the next film by laying a lot of ground work here but it is just ruined by it all. What honestly saves the film is the stellar acting by Garfield, Stone and others like Jamie Foxx who made the film worth watching, Andrew Garfield plays a phenomenal Spider-Man and the web crawler has never been better. One moment in particular when the wise cracking character tries to hide his secret from his aunt almost leads him to get caught was very enjoyable and I wish I could of watched over again. I'm concerned with the rickety footing that's left for the next Amazing Spider-Man movie and I hope that maybe the ground work laid here can be salvaged and not ruin the new series all together.  

Good:

- Garfield's Spider-Man is simply fantastic 

- Many of the actors and actresses such as Emma Stone save what can be salvaged in the film

Bad:

- Poor and sporadic story telling where themes were all over the place

- Iconic enemies like Rhino and Electro are wasted 

- The will they won't they drama between Gwen and Peter is enough to drive you insane

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10 

Scully Nerd Reviews Ratings Guide

By Zachary Goodier

As we move ahead, reviewing and discussing our favorite (and least favorite) things, we realized that perhaps our viewers could use a handy guide to the SNR rating system, so you can better understand what our ratings mean to us when we put them onto a title to give a quick reference to how we felt about that particular item, so what follows is the rating system we use to describe everything we review.

1-             “KILL IT WITH FIRE!”

This is meant for items that are just so god awful that they might actually make you sick.  The inappropriate “this gave me cancer” joke comes to mind, because that’s basically what this means.  If and when we give it, it means we found NO redeeming parts of this… at all.

2-            “DO. NOT. WANT.”

This rating means that maybe one or two little things turned out alright, but realistically, this is still a steaming pile.  We don’t use either this rating or 1 very often, because honestly, it’s hardly possible to screw up this bad, but we have them here, because you never know when you’re going to need them.

3-        EPIC FAIL.

This is where we get to some more usable ratings for our reviews (Because it's surprisingly hard to be as bad as 1 or 2).  3 means that this was pretty bad, probably missing a lot of polish in key areas, and probably not having any good premise to go off of.  For example, if an anime or TV show just have a lot of bad  fan service and no original plot to speak of, and the characters are poorly written and the action leaves a lot to be desired, but still has its moments here and there that lessened the lameness, then this is likely what we’d stick it with.

4-            "How About No."

We all know those shows.  They’re dumb, they’re basically all the things a three is, but we may occasionally be in a mood, or feeling dumb enough to actually enjoy it.  We know it’s bad, but it’s our guilty little pleasure that we still found something here to enjoy while we were here.  And like a drunken little accident, you’ll do your best to forget it after you’re done, since it didn't make up for the bad parts.

5-            Meh.

This is so bland you really don’t feel anything for it.  Wasn’t good enough to impress you, wasn’t bad enough to make you hate it.  It was just… there.   And while that doesn’t make it as bad as the worst, you won’t remember it, you won’t talk to your friends about it, and you won’t even recall what it was about after you put it down.  This is the land of mediocrity at its finest, where everything is so dull you would eagerly accept a punch to the face just to remind yourself that you can still feel anything at all.

6-            Almost There.

This one tried, it really did.  You felt that someone along the way had a good idea, and tried to run with it, but it just didn’t really work out as awesome as they were hoping it would.  Maybe it was rushed, or the production crew got lazy, or the acting was mediocre at best.  The point is, something went wrong, but there is still something here worth checking out, if you think you might enjoy it.  Maybe the plot is lame, but the characters were fun.  Maybe the jokes fell flat, but the action was cool, or vice versa.  These are titles that didn’t impress, but they gave you a couple laughs and thrills along the way.  However, unlike the 4’s, there’s no guilt.  You had fun, and you moved on.  You told your friends about it, and they just kind of nodded their heads and moved on, as well.  Don’t feel bad, they can’t all be amazing, right?

7-            Not Bad.

Ok, I used “handsome” here before because this is where you have a game that essentially equates to a “handsome” woman: maybe not a stunner, but a lot of solid qualities that makes this one worth picking up.  You enjoyed it, you told your friends, and they enjoyed it too.  You maybe talk about it for a day or so, but then, once you’re done, you moved on.  That doesn’t mean this one wasn’t worth the time, you just realized that sure you liked it but you wanted a little more, or it just got a little boring before the end.  Point is: you had some good times, but you realized it was time to move on to other things.

8-           “Impressive, most impressive...”

Here’s a fun one.  You tried it, you liked it, and you’re still smiling afterwards.  Sure, maybe it’s all been done before, maybe even better, but that doesn’t mean this one should be passed on.  Maybe the budget was a little tight, or the concept was taken from something else, but it pulls its weight like a pro, but not a champion.  

9-            "WINNING!"

This is for the really awesome stuff, the ones that really pull it off.  You really had a hard time setting this one down, and you’re talking to your friends about it all the time.  Sure, maybe one or two of them don’t get it, but who cares?  You know you’re having fun, and most everyone else agrees on how awesome it is.  Perhaps one or two things held it back, like a short number or episodes or some polish that was conspicuously absent from the finished product, or maybe just a couple of bugs that held it back from perfection.  Whatever the case, you still loved it, and you’re proud of it.

10-     "Brace Yourselves..."

This is probably the toughest item for us to review, because it’s almost impossible to do them justice in words.  This doesn’t mean that the item is beyond fault, because nothing is, but it does mean that it stuck with us in such a way that we couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Even though it has the faults that any mortal creation has, we didn’t care.  You really can’t say no to it, and it shows.  You’ll have posters of it on your walls, and a collectable mug, or figures on the shelves.  You proudly fly their sigils in your keep (GoT/ASoIaF reference, there), and you dare someone to challenge you.

Whether it’s the themes, characters, twists and turns, or whatever it is, this has it in spades.  It all came together, in a unique and compelling way, that grabbed us and wouldn’t let go.  If we give an item this rating, it’s because we honestly feel that you can’t pass this up, and that it will likely inspire some talk amongst you and your friends for days and weeks after, if not more.