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Happy Feet Two (2011)
Happy Feet Two (2011)
2011 | Animation, International, Family
7
6.1 (12 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Mumble is back and dancing his way back into our hearts. Happy Feet Two is a follow up to the 2006 Academy Award winning movie, Happy Feet directed by George Miller. Mumble (Elijah Wood) is now married to Gloria (Alecia “PiNK” Moore, who replaced the late Brittany Murphy) and they have a son, Erik (Ava Acres).

Mumble struggles to help Erik with his insecurities and inability to find his own heart song and dance steps. Erik ends up running away from Emperorland with a couple of friends, following the love struck Ramon (Robin Williams). Unsuccessful in love within Mumble’s penguin community, Ramon decides to head back to Adelieland and falls for Carmen (Sophia Vergara) who, of course, plays hard to get. So begins Ramon’s hilarious attempts at trying to win Carmen’s affection. While on their adventure, Erik and company stumble across Sven (Hank Azaria), a puffin that is mistaken for a penguin who can fly. Erik becomes enamored with Sven’s ability to fly and attempts to follow in Sven’s footsteps.

Once Mumble has found the runaway chicks, he forces them to return to Emperorland. Upon their return to home, they find a landslide has caused an iceberg to shift and ends up trapping their colony with no way out. Mumble must find help before it’s too late. In flies the self-help guru and fraud Sven to come and teach the penguins how to fly. Meanwhile, other animals in peril are an elephant seal (Anthony Lapaglia) and a couple of codependent krill named Will (Brad Pitt) and Bill (Matt Damon) who realized that their only place in life is to provide sustenance for the whales. Unwilling to succumb to their fate, the delusional Will forces the terrified Bill to swim away from their swarm and become omnivores in an attempt to move up the food chain.

In the end all these stories tie together to show a strong sense of community among different species. I do believe George Miller seems to have taken more of a commercialized approach when creating this movie. Miller once again attempts to send an eco-message regarding global warming with Happy Feet Two. Unfortunately the sequel’s message does not create the same emotional and heartfelt impact as its predecessor. Miller focused more on entertaining and visuals and less on the actual storyline which was very choppy and quite odd at times.

The animators definitely give Pixar a run for their money with their amazing Antarctica scenery details, their incredible animal close-up shots, the undersea moments with the krill and spectacular action sequences. The movie may not have had the substance of the first movie; however it was definitely enjoyable to watch. There was lots of dancing, singing and great laugh-out-loud moments; an absolute visual delight.
  
Maneater
Maneater
2019 | Action/Adventure, Role-Playing
Playing as a shark (4 more)
Nice open world
Funny characters
Location collection quest
Story
Bugs (3 more)
Lack of targeting
Bit repetitive
Similar to other open world RPG titles
A game with Bite
Let me start by saying any game where you play as a "monster/ animal" against evil people is fun. This game is really fun and addictive.

The controls are simple enough and work, never felt I had no control over my shark. Graphics are not AAA for this generation and sometimes takes few seconds to render the Shark or some environment.

Gameplay by far is what I love about this game even when it is a bit repetitive. In fairness Sharks can only do so much. Nothing more fun than swimming around eating other predators and humans.

Game starts you of as a "pup" meaning you need to avoid alligators and eat as much as possible to level up to a "teen". Even then alligators will kill you 90% of the time. Once you get to around level 10 you grow to an "adult" then you can take it to the gators and pretty much anything in your first few areas.

Yes this game is open world, however it uses a trope seen in Witcher 3 and Assassin's Creed. Where by the story keeps you in areas to allow you enjoy the increase in difficulty. Letting you level up and evolve your shark before heading out into the ocean.

The games story is fun, full of over the top characters, like a throw back to GTA3 etc. Only just getting started. But the main Villain Scaly Pete is fair flushed out. Based on a sort of Ahab type character seeking revenge against sharks.

Gameplay is a mix of kill so many humans/prey, kill this predator/ human, collection quests and starting trouble to kill hunters which increases you infamy rating.

The ideas are not original, but they work really well. Knowing when to pick a fight with a rival predator is key. This is based on their and your level. As seen in AC Origns/ Odyssey and Witcher 3. Evolving reminds me of upgrading Max's car in Mad Max and feels fun. The story has elements of GTA or Saints Row with its OTT characters.

Sadly it can be a bit repetitive and sometimes feels bit of a slog having to swim somewhere to kill so many of something. But sometimes this is good as it is easy to drop in and out off. If you like Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, The Meg and any SyFy B Movie with killer sharks. Then this is the game for you.

It's a good game kept from greatest by few bugs and the limitations of being a Shark.
  
Lynn + Lucy (2019)
Lynn + Lucy (2019)
2019 |
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The titular characters in Lynn + Lucy are lifelong best friends, and even live opposite each other on the same street. But the film explores tragic circumstances where a bond this strong can swiftly be broken.

Lynn (Roxanne Scrimshaw) is a married stay-at-home mum turned hairdressing assistant, who is delighted when her best friend Lucy (Nichola Burley) gives birth to her first child. But she is clearly struggling with a new baby and her volatile relationship.

The two friends differ in a lot of ways, as Lynn seems more grounded and content with being a mother, whereas Lucy is a party animal, impulsive and misses life before motherhood. Yet their friendship works and has stood the test of time – until one awful day where everything changes.

Lynn + Lucy plays like an elevated soap opera, that’s reminiscent of kitchen sink realism. The film is fuelled by honest depictions of everyday domestic life, and as a result you won’t see any beautiful cinematography from this.

It’s bleak, it’s raw, and it even feels intrusive at times. It’s likely you’ll feel uncomfortable watching this as a result. Director and writer Fyzal Boulifa forces you to join this community even if you don’t want to be there.

As we’re given insight into what happens behind closed doors, we’re able to see exactly why Lynn and Lucy’s friendship rapidly falls apart. It’s not long before others start gossiping about the tragedy that unfolds for the two friends and the community they live in.


Lynn is forced to get a job as her husband is injured and she’s never been employed before, so she goes to a hairdressers owned by a former classmate. There is certainly a hierarchy there, Lynn sweeps the floors and makes teas and coffees, whilst being reminded that it’s typically a job for a school leaver.

But with no formal qualifications on her CV, it’s all she’s got. And salon owner Janelle (Jennifer Lee Moon) makes sure Lynn knows that, making her life hell and talking about her behind her back. However, Lynn grows close to hairdresser Caroline (Kacey Ainsworth) once her friendship with Lucy is tested.

The salon feels like a high school clique, and is a sad reminder of history repeating itself. I really enjoyed the performances here as it reflected the bleak, realistic nature of the overall story, and how horrible people can still be even when several years have passed.

Lynn + Lucy is a tragic, sometimes amusing, look at working class families and close knit communities, as well as the devastating effects of a personal tragedy.

Expect very difficult themes, lingering camera shots, and a sinking feeling in your stomach at the end. Bring tissues.
  
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Otway93 (567 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Assassin's Creed: Origins in Video Games

May 17, 2020  
Assassin's Creed: Origins
Assassin's Creed: Origins
2017 | Action/Adventure
Fighting (4 more)
Choice of weapons
Less limited climbing
Choice of horse/camel...and chariot.
Skill tree
Story (2 more)
Story length
Amount of side missions
One of the most fun to play, shame about the story.
For starters, a lot of thing change in this game. The fighting style takes a little bit of getting used to if you play it straight after Syndicate. It quickly gets easier though, so don't panic!

As for the weapons, the choice of weapons is huge compared to previous games. Available on this game, and regularly picked up, you have:
- Regular swords.
- Curved swords.
- Spears.
- Sceptres.
- Battle axes.
- Giant hammers.
- Dual Wield swords.
- Bows (with flaming arrows, controllable arrows, poison arrows etc.
- And of course the classic sleep darts and smoke bombs which kill instantly when you get powerful enough (as this game you level up!)

In this game, you start with a basic camel as well, which you can keep, but collect others as well, including faster, rarer camels, as well as horses and chariots (which honestly are quite infuriating in tighter areas like towns and villages).

Climbing is also greatly improved, as you are less limited. You can climb any realistically climbable surface including any almost any cliff faces, buildings etc.

As seen in Syndicate, for better or worse there is levelling up and a skill tree. Leveling up isn't too bad, but to complete the skill tree it took me until about level 53 (two levels below max), and every other point giving activity. So the tree is a bit excessive, but has some pretty fun abilities, such as animal taming (lions, crocodiles etc.).

Now with the negatives. Unfortunately I have to start with the main story, which felt incredibly short and unimaginative. The whole story is a revenge story.

Though there are more main assassinations (possibly 13?), most if these are condense into one or two slightly longer than usual missions. So it does shorten the game significantly. S

This is made up for by the seemingly unending side missions. These side missions can be interesting, but for the most part they aren't. Each mission is either a rescue mission, an escort mission, an assassination mission, or a bit of all three. Mostly they are rescue and escort missions.

As for the DLC, I would probably not bother. "The Hidden Ones", which I have just completed, is easily forgettable, to the point I already can't remember what the point of it was. And "The Curse of the Pharaohs", which I have no progressed far in, is already showing desperation and dipping into the supernatural again, including various egyptian legends, which honestly aren't that interesting.

Where the previous games have focused a lot on history, this one touches on well-known egyptian history, but mainly focuses on it's own disappointing story.