The Galaxy Junkyard: Review

Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts

Sunday, March 30, 2014

TMNT 2014 Trailer And Our Reaction

Okay first of all it's Teenage Mutant Ninja TURTLES not Tortoises; seriously they're like mini-Hulks.

Second, what the heck is the deal with their noses??? They're Shrek minus the ears.

There are a few positive notes, the Shredder armor looks pretty awesome, William Fichtner as Shredder though, good actor but not who'd we have chosen for the role. Megan Fox ultimately not the worst choice to play April O'Neil. And, yep that's pretty much it for the positives.

We will also be pretty disappointed if Dr. Baxter Stockman is ruined like he was in the Nickelodeon cartoon where instead of becoming a giant fly creature he becomes some idiot in a stupid looking machine.

Lastly, how does Michael Bay keep getting work?!?

So Long Childhood, May You Rest In Peace

-GJ

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Review: LEGO Batman: The Penguin Face Off

If you're looking for a fun, simple, LEGO set than you honestly can't go wrong with LEGO Superheroes 76010 Batman: The Penguin Face Off

Now this probably looks like a lot of little pieces, but it's really not. This set can be built in less than 15 minutes; probably less if you don't have issues with the torpedo installation as we did.

(Honestly this as far as this torpedo will go)

When it comes to Mini Figures, LEGO never disappoints; well normally. The Batman mini figure is top notch; great detail, mobility, a true mini figure. The Penguin mini figure on the other hand is a different story. The detail is there, however Penguin's legs are a solid immobile piece, and when you add his umbrella and remote, he falls over! Do enjoy the fact that they did make sure he was at least shorter than Batman.

This is a shot of Batman's Scuba Vehicle completed; note that the torpedoes are to be launched by flicking the back end (however with our particular set, this ain't happening because those things are jammed in there good).

But on the plus side, Batman looks pretty awesome on it.

Who doesn't love the Duck Boat? And again, so quick and easy to build (also has working flick torpedoes).

Duck Boat also allows for a place to stand Penguin with the umbrella and remote in tow.

Additional building pieces allow for you to build two of Penguin's infamous dynamite packing penguins and a small little snow cap with diamond. Also included in the set is a spear gun for Batman's use.

For an overall score, we'd give this set a 4 out of 5. A wonderful addition to any LEGO Batman collection.

-GJ

Monday, May 28, 2012

Comic Review: Exiles #70

Writer: Tony Bedard

Penciler: Paul Pelletier

Inkers: Rick Magyar w/ Hennessy & Meikis

Colorist: Wil Quintana

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Distributed: Marvel (November 2005)

Ripped from their separate realities the Exiles, Blink, Sabretooth, Mimic, Morph, Beak, and Heather Hudson, now travel from reality to reality partaking in near impossible missions to save each reality from certain destruction.

During the start of the Exiles' adventures they were just tossed around from reality to reality on a whim. Now though they have managed to take control of Crystal Palace; an observatory outside of time and space that allows the Exiles to move amongst the different realities at their choosing.

First stop Beak's reality, Earth #616...

Home is not as Beak had left it. When ripped from Earth #616 beak had a wife and children. Now that he's returned home he has discovered things are no longer as they were. His wife Angel has no memory of him and is acting very weird, and his children have never been born. The roles amongst humans and mutants have also been reversed; mutants are now the norm and humans or "sapiens" are second class citizens scrimping by and fighting for survival.

On this world, Magneto is King and commands the governments of the world. The usual diabolical Sentinels are only used to protect all citizens in this reality; not their usual hunt those who aren't the norm and destroy.

When we join the Exiles, Beak is wallowing in self pity that Angel no longer remembers him. Mimic tries to comfort him but only manages to upset Sabretooth. While Mimic and Sabretooth argue and pull the rest of the team's attention away from Beak, Beak catches a glimpse of Angel through a crowd of sapiens and takes off after her. However things don't go as planned for Beak when Angel swoops down out of nowhere and kidnaps him. Morph sees and points out the abduction to the rest of the team, but before they can follow a female human appears and stops them from pursuing, claiming she has information they need.

After leading the Exiles to a sapien center the female finally reveals herself to the Exiles; her name, Moira MacTaggert.

Moira explains of her son Kevin and his rare mutation that caused her to watch her son decay in front of her eyes. Moira tried to reverse the mutant gene in her son, but King Magneto stopped her for her "cure" could potentially be the undoing of mutant kind. Moira fled and is now the most wanted sapien on planet; her son Kevin also escaped the Sentinels sent to bring in Moira, and he himself has now found a way to aid his mutation problem...

Going by the name MutantX, Kevin, will now seek out other mutants and take over their bodies, draining them until they are useless and then moving on to the next. MutantX's current host body, yep you guessed it, it's Angel.

The discussion with Moira is interrupted however when several Sentinels come barging into the center from below. After a brief battle the Exiles come out on top. And now decide they need to find Beak quickly and stop MutantX before he chooses to feast on the body of their friend.

The issue ends with the Exiles finding their way into a warped reality and coming face to face with MutantX in Angel's body; all the while Beak hangs upside down and unconscious.

If you're a fan of different types of X-Men comics then Exiles is one you should check out. The characters are ones you will be mostly familiar with or at least have heard of, though the only thing in this case is to remember that the Exiles are from different realities and traveling through different realities, so don't expect them to be just like the versions in your favorite X-Men comics.

Exiles #70 had a great story, was paced well with action and information, and crisp artwork to boot. This one should find it's way to your reading list. (Note: issue #70 is part 2 of 3, so you may want to pick up #69 and #71 as well).

-GJ

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Comic Review: Batman Shadow of the Bat Annual #2

Writer: Alan Grant
Pencillers:Tom Raney and Joe Station
Inkers: Tom Raney and Horacio Ottolini
Colorist: Gina Going
Letterer: Albert Deguzman
Cover Painter: Brian Stelfreeze
Published By: DC Comics (1994)

In this issue we see what happens when the citizens of Gotham City know that Batman is Bruce Wayne; what lengths Batman will go to to protect those citizens; how the villains don't seem to be the actual villains; and how Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow, is Batman's partner.

When Bruce's parents are killed it's Jonathan Crane who steps in and stops the gunman from taking Bruce's life as well. Crane then seeks and wins custody of Bruce, raising him in Wayne Manor along with faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth.

Even with Crane stepping in as a parental figure, Bruce's life still leads him to becoming the Batman. While out on his first mission, he runs into the Joker who manages to unmask him, revealing his face to all.

Crane has created a toxin to keep evil minded people under control, and with Batman's and Wayne Enterprises help, has been pouring the toxin into Gotham's water supply for over two years.

The villain Anarchy has gathered Gotham's most ruthless villains to lead a multiple front attack on Gotham in hopes to putting a stop to Batman and Crane's plans.

Anarchy with Killer Croc, Clayface, and Penguin find themselves in the Batcave face to face with Batman, Crane, and Crane's new toxin. After a brief fight, Crane tells Batman to dispose of Anarchy, but Batman says he has sworn never to take a life, at which point Crane reveals that Batman has no choice but to listen to him because he's been pouring a mind control toxin into his water his entire life. However Batman manages to fight off the toxin and walk away from Crane with Anarchy; but not before placing an explosive on the toxin container which catches Crane when it explodes.

Batman then confesses what he and Crane have done and turns his fate over to the citizens of Gotham. The issue ends with the people of Gotham igniting Wayne Manor on fire and Batman standing on a balcony looking out over Gotham as he and his home burn.

-GJ

Avengers Movie Review

Without trying to spoil the movie for those that haven't seen Marvel's Avengers (which can't be many of you), here is our spoiler free review.

If only allowed one word to describe the Avengers, well we'd go with brilliant. The action sequences, the humor, the character relationships, everything was just amazing.

There was a great concern going into this movie that with so many heroes somebody wouldn't be getting much screen time, but the fact of the matter is everyone got a fair share; including Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Nick Fury.

The movie also provided Bruce Banner with quite a significant amount of screen time too; not just a few seconds where he becomes angry and turns into the Hulk for the rest of the movie. This move was great because it allowed Banner and Tony Stark to have a rapport with one another which added to both their character development.

As you can imagine there was quite a significant amount of action in the film, but not to the extent where the movie goer loses interest in the film or cause the film to lose the storyline. Action was also nicely spaced, not too much at one time; which allowed for the story to flow nicely and time for important conversations / interactions to take place.

The quality and quantity of humor was also great. The jokes were actually witty and well placed. Most people will have to see the Avengers at least twice due to the fact that you miss somethings due to laughing so hard in a few places. Seriously though, who's going to complain about seeing this film a few times?

Don't be too eager to jump from your seat and leave when the end credits start to roll either. There are two clips after the end credits start to roll; one will be seen right after the actors' names are listed and the other after all credits have run through. You won't want to miss either!

Marvel's Avengers earns a 5 out of 5, is directed by Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and has a run time of 2 hours and 23 minutes.

-GJ

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Review - R2in22 Episode 2

Once again we join Adam, Andy, and Jen as they bring us all things Star Wars in episode 2 of R2in22.

Episode 2 features:

Identities News
Hayden Christensen and the Star Wars Curse
Video Game News, including a review of Star Wars Kinect
Book News
Top Ten: Best Expanded Universe Rumors

Though down a man this episode (no Mike), the gang still does a satisfactory job in presenting many different opinions and knowledge on all the topics.

For instance, their agreed upon opinion of Hayden Christensen, bad actor who always plays a whinny character, is spot on.

During the book review there is an Old Republic book that they can't think of the name for, well it's Deceived by Paul Kemp, and it was the novel that involved that epic fight between the Sith and Jedi in the first trailer to BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic video game.

Once again the Top Ten was humorous, and can't wait to see what the next one will bring.

The only thing missing from the episode, well besides Mike, was the lack of action figure news; but other than this, everything else you could want was present.

R2in22 episode 2 earns itself a 4 out of 5 Death Stars.

-GJ

Monday, March 26, 2012

The Hunger Games (Movie Review)

First off this review is based solely on the movie; I've never read the book, so I can't say what was changed or what was left out.

Synopsis

Set in the future, The Hunger Games is a television show that pits 24 children, one male and one female from each of the 12 districts, age 12-18, against each other in a fight to the death.

After having her sister selected to participate in the games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, Mystique of X-Men: First Class) volunteers to take her place in the latest game.

This is one of the better movies we've seen in awhile. The story was great, and very powerful. Going in you have to remember that this is a story about kids fighting for their lives and their district, this is not a movie for the weak of heart. However from what we can gather from many is that the books are much more graphic, but they usually are.

The acting was spot on for each character. Each actor / actress had their roles down, and they worked smoothly off of each other, no underlying difficulties that you often see when actors / actresses aren't used to working in the specific genre or style.

Even though the story was a serious and powerful one, there was a fair amount of humor throughout the entire film. The best part is it didn't feel forced either, it was placed smoothly into the dialog and not just something that comes out of the blue or is nonsensical.

The only problem with the movie is that it had a shaky camera in places that were unnecessary. Now we understand the shaky camera while the kids are running through the woods and all that, but there is no need whatsoever for it to be shaking while Katniss is sitting at home just talking with her sister. It was almost nauseating.

The Hunger Games is directed by Gary Ross, rated PG-13, and has a run time of 142 minutes.

We give it 4 out of 5 stars.

-GJ

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Terra Nova, Will It Last?

Caught the premiere of FOX's new show Terra Nova last night, and thought this is good, but it won't last.

For those that haven't seen it or don't know what it is, Terra Nova is about mankind having to go back in time, into a different time stream altogether actually, because they have used up the Earth's resources and caused a significant amount of damage in the process.

This journey back in time leads them to the period Dinosaurs still roamed the Earth; a simple summery for Terra Nova, is a typical Sci-Fi future story meets Jurassic Park.

Now why do I question if the show will last? Well that's simple too; Budget. It costs a lot of money to produce a Sci-Fi show, and even greater costs are added for the CGI, which there was and will continue to be a lot of. Seriously, it's not like they can go out and film a dinosaur.

On any other network, Terra Nova may stand a chance to go a couple of seasons, but on FOX, it's pretty much doomed. Don't think so? Well let me remind you all of this little show called Firefly. Yeah, ever heard of it?

Of course since I kinda did like this show, if I decide to give up on Terra Nova now, it'll probably be around for quite a while just to prove me wrong.

On the other hand, do you find Terra Nova worth keeping?

-GJ