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Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue
8.0
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Tabletop Game
Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue is a cooperative game set in an action-movie universe for 1 to 12...
Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) rated Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) in Movies
Feb 9, 2022 (Updated Feb 9, 2022)
Visual effects (4 more)
Casting choices
Over enthusiastic plot
Missing key plot points
Characteristic changes
The beginning of the end...
Contains spoilers, click to show
OK first of all I watched this movie with hope, after the original 6 Paul W.S Anderson movies were very hit and miss (although RE Apocalypse was epic) I had faith that this would be done right, and although I'd never thought I'd be one of those fans who points out numerous flaws in a videogame movie adaption, here we are...
Set in the fictional destination of Racoon City, the movie quickly introduces characters Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield, Leon. S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker amongst others.
The plot trotts along nicely for a short while before it begins racing between Two crammed together story's, RE1 & RE2 (with traces of RE3 plotted around).
Jumping between Claire and Leon wandering around RPD and Chris, Wesker and Jill lost wandering the halls of Spencer Mansion.
The visual effects are rather shoddy in places and the characters other than Claire seem to have a low IQ and a hard-on for danger.
The characters origin story's are unnecessary and mostly pointless, especially Leon's making them all seem like post grad high-school students.
There was no big bad showdown and no explanation or hint for the city's destruction other than 'umbrella fucked up'.
The direction is sloppy at best and everything is rushed, the characters looked almost nothing like their videogame counterparts and key plot points were missing throughout and the final scene looked like something from a teenage expendables movie...
I was unsure what to rate this but an overall out of 10, for me it's a 2.5.
As for this movie, my name is Lee, and I remember everything, lol.
Set in the fictional destination of Racoon City, the movie quickly introduces characters Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield, Leon. S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker amongst others.
The plot trotts along nicely for a short while before it begins racing between Two crammed together story's, RE1 & RE2 (with traces of RE3 plotted around).
Jumping between Claire and Leon wandering around RPD and Chris, Wesker and Jill lost wandering the halls of Spencer Mansion.
The visual effects are rather shoddy in places and the characters other than Claire seem to have a low IQ and a hard-on for danger.
The characters origin story's are unnecessary and mostly pointless, especially Leon's making them all seem like post grad high-school students.
There was no big bad showdown and no explanation or hint for the city's destruction other than 'umbrella fucked up'.
The direction is sloppy at best and everything is rushed, the characters looked almost nothing like their videogame counterparts and key plot points were missing throughout and the final scene looked like something from a teenage expendables movie...
I was unsure what to rate this but an overall out of 10, for me it's a 2.5.
As for this movie, my name is Lee, and I remember everything, lol.
Two Necromancers, an Army of Golems and A Demon Lord (The Unconventional Heroes series #2)
5.0
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Book
Two necromancers, an army of golems, and a demon lord – it sounds like a recipe for trouble, and...
Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Midnight Sky (2020) in Movies
Dec 27, 2020
Predictable and cliched
The Midnight Sky is a science fiction film directed by George Clooney, the latest in a long line of Netflix originals to hit our screens, based on the 2016 book ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Lily Brooks-Dalton. George Clooney plays Augustine, who encounters young girl Iris (the adorable Caoilinn Springall) after remaining on earth following a global apocalypse. Together they must travel across the Arctic to reach a weather station that will allow them to warn returning spaceship, the Aether, captained by Adewole (David Oyelowo) and crewed by Sully (Felicity Jones), Mitchell (Kyle Chandler), Sanchez (Demián Bichir) and Maya (Tiffany Boone).
The trailer for this had me concerned. It looked very similar to many other sci-fi/end of the world films (think Sunshine, Interstellar, even The Day After Tomorrow) and nothing about it looked particularly original. I had hoped that the trailer might be misleading, but I’m afraid to say that this is every bit as lacklustre and predictable as the trailer implied.
Visually this looks stunning, both the set design and the special effects have obviously had a decent amount of time and money invested in them. Alongside this, Alexandre Desplat’s score is beautifully ephemeral and haunting, and accompanies the story well, feeling very in keeping with both the Arctic and the space settings. And aside from a decent cast, I’m afraid these are the only good things I can say about this film. The main problem is the story itself, it’s entirely predictable and suffers from every space and sci-fi mishap you could ever think of, from unexplainable drifting off course to the destruction of important equipment (comms of course, would you expect any less?) due to an unpredicted meteor strike. And this cliched predictability just makes the story so dull and drawn out over its two hour runtime.
To be honest, the whole film itself and the actions of the characters just doesn’t make any sense. You have a pregnant astronaut, who has virtually no sexual chemistry with the man she’s having a baby with, and who’s allowed to go outside into space with little concern over her or her baby’s well-being. A scientist who falls into sub-zero Arctic water which appears to have little impact on his health. And a child walking around in a summer dress with bare legs in the Arctic climate. Admittedly this latter point is addressed towards the end of the film in a rather obvious and over used plot twist, which is still rather unsatisfying. There’s also the large number of unexplained plot points. I’m all for keeping the watcher guessing and hate films that feel the need to over explain every aspect of the plot, but The Midnight Sky takes the opposite approach and explains barely anything. If you go into this expecting to find out what caused the radiation apocalypse or what happened to the rest of earth’s population you’ll be sorely disappointed. It also makes references to a K-23 colony ship that the Aether hasn’t heard from, yet provides no explanation or background as to the outcome of said ship, and also gives us flashbacks to Augustine’s past yet with little reason other than to provide an “A-ha” moment for the aforementioned plot twist. And the decisions made by the astronauts on the Aether once they’ve found out about Earth’s fate are just laughably ridiculous especially considering the fate of the rest of the population.
Despite the promising cast and effects, The Midnight Sky is yet another disappointing Netflix original that is light years away from some of the more brilliant sci-fi stories that have come before it.
The trailer for this had me concerned. It looked very similar to many other sci-fi/end of the world films (think Sunshine, Interstellar, even The Day After Tomorrow) and nothing about it looked particularly original. I had hoped that the trailer might be misleading, but I’m afraid to say that this is every bit as lacklustre and predictable as the trailer implied.
Visually this looks stunning, both the set design and the special effects have obviously had a decent amount of time and money invested in them. Alongside this, Alexandre Desplat’s score is beautifully ephemeral and haunting, and accompanies the story well, feeling very in keeping with both the Arctic and the space settings. And aside from a decent cast, I’m afraid these are the only good things I can say about this film. The main problem is the story itself, it’s entirely predictable and suffers from every space and sci-fi mishap you could ever think of, from unexplainable drifting off course to the destruction of important equipment (comms of course, would you expect any less?) due to an unpredicted meteor strike. And this cliched predictability just makes the story so dull and drawn out over its two hour runtime.
To be honest, the whole film itself and the actions of the characters just doesn’t make any sense. You have a pregnant astronaut, who has virtually no sexual chemistry with the man she’s having a baby with, and who’s allowed to go outside into space with little concern over her or her baby’s well-being. A scientist who falls into sub-zero Arctic water which appears to have little impact on his health. And a child walking around in a summer dress with bare legs in the Arctic climate. Admittedly this latter point is addressed towards the end of the film in a rather obvious and over used plot twist, which is still rather unsatisfying. There’s also the large number of unexplained plot points. I’m all for keeping the watcher guessing and hate films that feel the need to over explain every aspect of the plot, but The Midnight Sky takes the opposite approach and explains barely anything. If you go into this expecting to find out what caused the radiation apocalypse or what happened to the rest of earth’s population you’ll be sorely disappointed. It also makes references to a K-23 colony ship that the Aether hasn’t heard from, yet provides no explanation or background as to the outcome of said ship, and also gives us flashbacks to Augustine’s past yet with little reason other than to provide an “A-ha” moment for the aforementioned plot twist. And the decisions made by the astronauts on the Aether once they’ve found out about Earth’s fate are just laughably ridiculous especially considering the fate of the rest of the population.
Despite the promising cast and effects, The Midnight Sky is yet another disappointing Netflix original that is light years away from some of the more brilliant sci-fi stories that have come before it.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated After the Dark (2014) in Movies
Jan 13, 2018
Nope
Ever drank an open soda that's been sitting in the fridge too long? That's kind of like what happens to the premise of After the Dark. Due to its lack of reality (will expand on that in a moment), there are no real stakes and we all know what happens to Phillip McSween when he watches a film with no stakes. I turn green...
Despite a premise that falls flat, I can appreciate the message that the film was trying to get across. Everyone is important and has value. You can never understand that true value of a person or a thing until you give that person or a thing a try. The true value behind this message actually saved this film from getting a worse score.
I also give credit, as I did with I Declare War, for the film daring to try such an interesting premise. On paper it seems like it just might work and, perhaps with a bit more development, it could have. Or perhaps the film was just doomed from the start. One can never be sure.
I'll let you decide for yourself: On their last day of classes, a professor challenges a high school class to imagine different scenarios in which they would have to survive an apocalypse. While this is all happening inside of a classroom, the film takes us into the imaginary world of these different apocalyptic scenarios so what we're seeing is never actual reality, but the scenarios themselves. Ready to drop everything and watch yet?
With me watching 365 movies and having to randomly choose some from my list of all-time Rotten Tomato films, I expect some duds to slip through. Not only was the source material not enough to make me care, but the ending was so ridiculous that it destroyed any hopes of After the Dark being worth anyone's time. I give it a 61.
Despite a premise that falls flat, I can appreciate the message that the film was trying to get across. Everyone is important and has value. You can never understand that true value of a person or a thing until you give that person or a thing a try. The true value behind this message actually saved this film from getting a worse score.
I also give credit, as I did with I Declare War, for the film daring to try such an interesting premise. On paper it seems like it just might work and, perhaps with a bit more development, it could have. Or perhaps the film was just doomed from the start. One can never be sure.
I'll let you decide for yourself: On their last day of classes, a professor challenges a high school class to imagine different scenarios in which they would have to survive an apocalypse. While this is all happening inside of a classroom, the film takes us into the imaginary world of these different apocalyptic scenarios so what we're seeing is never actual reality, but the scenarios themselves. Ready to drop everything and watch yet?
With me watching 365 movies and having to randomly choose some from my list of all-time Rotten Tomato films, I expect some duds to slip through. Not only was the source material not enough to make me care, but the ending was so ridiculous that it destroyed any hopes of After the Dark being worth anyone's time. I give it a 61.
KerysJayne Draganova (21 KP) rated Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) in Books
Jan 13, 2018 (Updated Jan 13, 2018)
Storyline (3 more)
Characters
Alot of action
Dark take on Angels
It truly astounds me that the author had to self publish this book...considering some of the rubbish that actually gets picked up by publishing companies.
I love love loved Ee's take on Angels. I'm not really a fan of paranormal books with angels usually, as generally they involve squeaky clean, day-saving, nicey nice angels....*yawn*! Same old every time. So Ee's end of the world bringing, dark, gritty angels were a breath of fresh air.
Ee has created some incredible characters in this book, Penryn is an absolute bad ass. I love that she's trained in martial arts and not afraid to put up a fight. She's ready to protect her family at all costs, whether that means fighting humans gone mad, or crazy, sword wielding, angels with super strength.
The dynamic between Penryn and Raffe is perfect. I love how Penryn saves Raffes ass so many times throughout the book, and he returns the favour. There's no love at first sight between the two. Rather their partnership starts as one of survival, and a building of trust that brings about a whole load of tension between the two. Their story gets you right in the feels.
Also Penryn's crazy Mother is freaking Amazing!!!! I can't wait to see where Ee goes with this character.
The only thing I felt let this book down was the world building/ back story, I didn't really get a proper feel for what kind of state the the world was in, and there wasn't really an explanation as to how the angels brought on the apocalypse.
Also, I will say parts of the book can be very Dark/ graphic. This book is listed as a YA but may be better for older YAs and even NAs.
Overall, this is an awesome post-apocalyptic story, and I definitely recommend it.
I love love loved Ee's take on Angels. I'm not really a fan of paranormal books with angels usually, as generally they involve squeaky clean, day-saving, nicey nice angels....*yawn*! Same old every time. So Ee's end of the world bringing, dark, gritty angels were a breath of fresh air.
Ee has created some incredible characters in this book, Penryn is an absolute bad ass. I love that she's trained in martial arts and not afraid to put up a fight. She's ready to protect her family at all costs, whether that means fighting humans gone mad, or crazy, sword wielding, angels with super strength.
The dynamic between Penryn and Raffe is perfect. I love how Penryn saves Raffes ass so many times throughout the book, and he returns the favour. There's no love at first sight between the two. Rather their partnership starts as one of survival, and a building of trust that brings about a whole load of tension between the two. Their story gets you right in the feels.
Also Penryn's crazy Mother is freaking Amazing!!!! I can't wait to see where Ee goes with this character.
The only thing I felt let this book down was the world building/ back story, I didn't really get a proper feel for what kind of state the the world was in, and there wasn't really an explanation as to how the angels brought on the apocalypse.
Also, I will say parts of the book can be very Dark/ graphic. This book is listed as a YA but may be better for older YAs and even NAs.
Overall, this is an awesome post-apocalyptic story, and I definitely recommend it.
Acanthea Grimscythe (300 KP) rated King's Cage in Books
May 16, 2018
The third installment in Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series, King’s Cage, is probably my favorite so far. Once again, Aveyard proves she is more focused on telling a story than describing a romance – something my readers know I really like. Especially when it comes to young adult fantasy. In fact, I feel labeling this series as “romance” is a stretch – especially given how little Aveyard focuses on actual material meant to draw in readers of that genre.
King’s Cage begins where Glass Sword left off: Mare’s deal with Maven. While she spends her time in prison, we finally get to learn more about other characters in the story – namely Cameron and (later) Evangeline. Though the latter takes place more toward when the action begins to kick up. Naturally, the story is more focused on Mare even from these perspectives, but it provides a refreshing look at the rebellion.
Surprisingly, there are several turns in King’s Cage that caught me entirely off guard. This is a good thing: I hate when books and stories become predictable. I won’t divulge more than that, for fear of spoilers, but I will say this: so far, this book is my favorite in the series and though I am so angry at the ending I could burn it, part of me wants to open it back up to page one and start again. I don’t imagine the library will like it much if I burn their book.
Until the fourth book hits shelves, I guess I’ll have to satisfy my hunger for more by reading the two novellas that Aveyard wrote for her post-apocalypse universe. Oh, and as a side note? This is the first one I read physically so I finally got to see a map of the lands. As I suspected, it takes place in the ruins of what was once the United States.
King’s Cage begins where Glass Sword left off: Mare’s deal with Maven. While she spends her time in prison, we finally get to learn more about other characters in the story – namely Cameron and (later) Evangeline. Though the latter takes place more toward when the action begins to kick up. Naturally, the story is more focused on Mare even from these perspectives, but it provides a refreshing look at the rebellion.
Surprisingly, there are several turns in King’s Cage that caught me entirely off guard. This is a good thing: I hate when books and stories become predictable. I won’t divulge more than that, for fear of spoilers, but I will say this: so far, this book is my favorite in the series and though I am so angry at the ending I could burn it, part of me wants to open it back up to page one and start again. I don’t imagine the library will like it much if I burn their book.
Until the fourth book hits shelves, I guess I’ll have to satisfy my hunger for more by reading the two novellas that Aveyard wrote for her post-apocalypse universe. Oh, and as a side note? This is the first one I read physically so I finally got to see a map of the lands. As I suspected, it takes place in the ruins of what was once the United States.
Sheridan (209 KP) rated Bird Box (2018) in Movies
Feb 4, 2019
Beautiful visuals (1 more)
Good acting
If this happened for real, you'd never make it. (1 more)
More questions than answers in the end
If you take off your blindfold you will die.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Welcome to the apocalypse bitches! Whatever this asshole is it takes over your brain and makes you off yourself. I love the idea, I love the concept. There's no way you'd achieve half the stuff they manage but lets just suspend belief for a minute because it was a good film. I like how they told the story by starting at the trip and going back to the beginning until they catch you up, it keeps the story interesting and appropriately paced. Though I enjoyed it, it does leave more questions than answers. Here's just a few that bothered me;
Why don't they come inside? Do the age old vampire rules apply, I wonder.
There is no way they could have driven blind from the house to the supermarket using just GPS and parking sensors. (Not really a question, it just annoyed me)
How were the birds in the supermarket still alive? (It's clearly been weeks since someone was there) And also on this note, Why were they there? Supermarkets don't sell birds...
Where did the girl and the blond guy go? They stole the car but you never see them again - wth happened there? Are they alive, dead? What?
How did she not run into the side of the river every five minutes? She's blindfolded and has never been there before. Have you ever tried to walk from your bedroom to the bathroom in the middle of the night? It ain't easy even when you know the place.
Why is there a blind school in the middle of nowhere? It feels end of the world cultish...
A good movie, but there are many questions that never get answers that left it a little confusing. Probably would watch it again just to see if I missed anything.
Why don't they come inside? Do the age old vampire rules apply, I wonder.
There is no way they could have driven blind from the house to the supermarket using just GPS and parking sensors. (Not really a question, it just annoyed me)
How were the birds in the supermarket still alive? (It's clearly been weeks since someone was there) And also on this note, Why were they there? Supermarkets don't sell birds...
Where did the girl and the blond guy go? They stole the car but you never see them again - wth happened there? Are they alive, dead? What?
How did she not run into the side of the river every five minutes? She's blindfolded and has never been there before. Have you ever tried to walk from your bedroom to the bathroom in the middle of the night? It ain't easy even when you know the place.
Why is there a blind school in the middle of nowhere? It feels end of the world cultish...
A good movie, but there are many questions that never get answers that left it a little confusing. Probably would watch it again just to see if I missed anything.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the PC version of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden in Video Games
Feb 8, 2019
Hard Game But Core Fans May Like it.
Fans of turn based combat will likely enjoy the latest game in the genre Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. The game has a Post-Apocalypse setting where players take control of two mutants, a Duck and a Boar, as they explore, battle, and salvage in a hostile environment.
There is a base of operations which is fairly safe for players to enjoy as they can not only gain new missions; but they can upgrade their loadout to better survive the tasks ahead.
The early missions were fairly routine as using my allotted number of moves per turn I was able to move, take cover, heal, reload, fire, and even throw a grenade.
The problem comes when the enemy has numbers as an early mission involved taking on 5 enemies of the same or higher skill level.
The enemies were able to flank players and call in help which only increased their superior advantage.
Hiding and waiting for them to pass, hit and run, and direct assaults did no good and added to the frustrations.
Considering players would have to take a turn to reload and enemies did not, plus the sheer numbers made it a frustrating undertaking.
In many ways it is a microcosm of the game itself as there are challenges and then there are challenges which are a bit too much for gamers who are not hardcore and are looking for a simple escape.
Casual players are likely to enjoy the premise and some of the gameplay but will become frustrated with the excessive challenge and combat mechanics required on some of the missions.
The game has decent graphics and sound and the characters are engaging and likeable but in the end the game becomes a tedious series of turn based battles that can grow old and frustrating after a while.
3.5 stars out of 5
There is a base of operations which is fairly safe for players to enjoy as they can not only gain new missions; but they can upgrade their loadout to better survive the tasks ahead.
The early missions were fairly routine as using my allotted number of moves per turn I was able to move, take cover, heal, reload, fire, and even throw a grenade.
The problem comes when the enemy has numbers as an early mission involved taking on 5 enemies of the same or higher skill level.
The enemies were able to flank players and call in help which only increased their superior advantage.
Hiding and waiting for them to pass, hit and run, and direct assaults did no good and added to the frustrations.
Considering players would have to take a turn to reload and enemies did not, plus the sheer numbers made it a frustrating undertaking.
In many ways it is a microcosm of the game itself as there are challenges and then there are challenges which are a bit too much for gamers who are not hardcore and are looking for a simple escape.
Casual players are likely to enjoy the premise and some of the gameplay but will become frustrated with the excessive challenge and combat mechanics required on some of the missions.
The game has decent graphics and sound and the characters are engaging and likeable but in the end the game becomes a tedious series of turn based battles that can grow old and frustrating after a while.
3.5 stars out of 5
Erika (17788 KP) rated X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) in Movies
Jun 8, 2019 (Updated Jun 8, 2019)
Better than Last Stand
Last Stand didn't exactly set a high bar for the Dark Phoenix story line, and luckily, this film surpassed it. To be honest, the only reason they got my butt in a seat was for Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy.
The story goes the way you expect it to go. I'm not completely convinced Sophie Turner is a good actress. I'm also glad that they killed Raven (not a spoiler, it's common knowledge), though it wasn't quick enough in my opinion.
I'm unsure as to why Jessica Chastain was cast (or why she's ever cast in ANYTHING); her 'villain' was completely useless. The movie didn't even need that subplot, they would have had a better movie without it and her. Pro-tip: don't introduce new characters in the last film of a saga because no one will care enough about them. Seriously, I felt like my time was wasted having to watch her.
I will say, this film FINALLY gave us good scenes with the X-Men kicking some ass, all using their unique powers. They really gave Nicholas Hoult something to do, and he was great!
Finally, the reason I was there, McFassy. This was one of McAvoy's best Professor X performances, he wasn't black or white, he was more gray and it really worked. They didn't give Magneto much to do, but I loved that they introduced Genosha. This will be below the 'see more' line, so, the best flexing his power scene was when he lifted the subway through the concrete, it was almost on par with the submarine being lifted out of the sea in First Class, and pulling up the Auschwitz gate in Apocalypse.
The last scene shows the entire new saga go first circle. Of course, it's very Dark Knight Rises, but it was perfect. I'm only rating it a 6 because of that.
The story goes the way you expect it to go. I'm not completely convinced Sophie Turner is a good actress. I'm also glad that they killed Raven (not a spoiler, it's common knowledge), though it wasn't quick enough in my opinion.
I'm unsure as to why Jessica Chastain was cast (or why she's ever cast in ANYTHING); her 'villain' was completely useless. The movie didn't even need that subplot, they would have had a better movie without it and her. Pro-tip: don't introduce new characters in the last film of a saga because no one will care enough about them. Seriously, I felt like my time was wasted having to watch her.
I will say, this film FINALLY gave us good scenes with the X-Men kicking some ass, all using their unique powers. They really gave Nicholas Hoult something to do, and he was great!
Finally, the reason I was there, McFassy. This was one of McAvoy's best Professor X performances, he wasn't black or white, he was more gray and it really worked. They didn't give Magneto much to do, but I loved that they introduced Genosha. This will be below the 'see more' line, so, the best flexing his power scene was when he lifted the subway through the concrete, it was almost on par with the submarine being lifted out of the sea in First Class, and pulling up the Auschwitz gate in Apocalypse.
The last scene shows the entire new saga go first circle. Of course, it's very Dark Knight Rises, but it was perfect. I'm only rating it a 6 because of that.