Muppet's Most Wanted (2014)

It's the Muppet's Again in...

MUPPET'S MOST WANTED

STORY

After the success of thier previous film The Muppet's, Kermit and the Gang are back pondering the plot of their newly ordered sequel.  After deciding that it should be "The Muppet's go on a World Tour", they hire the shady promoter "Mr. Badguy" (said Bah-gee), and head out to Berlin.  Once there Kermit is replaced (against his will), by Constatine, the worlds most dangerous frog.  The police find Kermit, and mistake him for the criminal, and take him to the gulag.  Then Interpol get's on to the fact that everywere the Muppet's go, Art is being stolen...

CONTENT

There is some crude humor spread throughout, but it's not that vulgar.  The plot is about a Criminal Frog.  Ms. Piggy has a obsession with her Kermie.  Nothing all that bad here. 

CONCLUSION

For 60 years the muppet's have entertained children and adults alike, and this movie proves that they still can.  While not as funny as the previous film, it does spark lot's of laughter, and the musical numbers are still great.  With celebrity cameos from Celine Dion, James McAvoy, Danny Trejo, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga, Hugh Boneville, Tony Bennet, Tom Hiddleston, and Usher (guess who he played :).  This movie is sure to provide fun for the whole family.

7.0 out of 10

Welcome to the big house...

DETAILS
STARRING 
Ty Burrrell
Tina Fey
Ricky Gervais
Steve Whitmire
Eric Jacobson
Matt Vogel

Directed by James Bobin

Music by Christophe Beck

Rated PG

Released 2014

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

In the 1990s, the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo was like that of Samsung and Apple today.  Sega wanted a mascot for the Genesis, that the system would be identified by.  Thus Sonic the Hedgehog was born.

STORY

Sonic must stop Dr. Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds, and break his animal friends out of prison's made by the mad scientist

GAMEPLAY

The objective is to reach the goal to the far right of the screen.  This involves smashing enemies, jumping pit's, and lots of platforming, all while trying to collect rings and power up's to get the high score, in a timely manner.  Going faster gives you a bonus, but it also pay's to head backwards on another level, so it really depends on if your trying to go for a high score, or if your trying to go farther in the game faster, how it will play.

GRAPHICS

While not as vibirant as SNES games, the graphics are less blocky, and show's the speed very well.  Very Good Graphics (for 1991).

AGE

Sonic is suitable for all ages

CONCLUSION

Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the best games available for genesis, and is worth your time.  Not only is it fun, but once you get in the flow of the game, it's quite addictive.  So whether or not you have the cartridge, you can get this game on a sega collection disc, the play store, or a rom.  

7 out of 10

While not the best of the series, STH is still fun.  I'm giving it a seven due to the lack of the spin dash move, which would have been very helpful in some instances.  I played Sonc the Hedgehog 2 first, which also affects the opinion given here.    

DETAILS

Developed by Sonic Team

Published by Sega

Released 1991

Rated GA/KA/E/E10/T  (collections are rated every thing but GA, the original rating)

For Sega Genesis, iOS, Android, and most game consoles past 2001



Afterthoughts-The Amazing Spider-Man 2

So if you haven't noticed yet, Spider-Man is my biggest fandom (yes, that's right!  Star Wars comes second.), and I want to talk about the new movie, and throw in my thoughts on what should be in the third film.  This is not a review, so there will be spoilers.  If you have not seen The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and you want to enjoy it all, turn around!  The actual review is in the blog archive to the right.

*SPOILERS START HERE*

So first off, I personally enjoyed TASM2, and can't wait for the sequel.  Yes, there were shortcomings, but doesn't everything have some?

1. Who's the villain?  Well in film one, we have The Lizard, in film two we have Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino.  I've heard that a Sinister Six (a team-up of six baddies who hate the web-head) film is in the works.  It would be cool to see the classic S6 line-up:
Doctor Octopus
Electro
Kraven the Hunter
Vulture
Mysterio
Sand Man

But that probaby won't happen as Goblin and Rhino will be members, plus we have seen the Vulture and Doctor Octopus equipment.  I highly doubt that Electro will return (he exploded in the power grid battle) and the Lizard is most likley out of the picture.  So who are the other two members?  Personally, I think it's most likely Mysterio and Kraven.
But here we run into a new problem...when will we meet the villains?  Since we only have met two members of the six thus far, would they really throw four villains into one movie, with two that still need to be expanded on?  Doubt it.   

The Roster
Green Goblin
Rhino
Vulture
Mysterio
Kraven
Doctor Octopus

I personally want the villains in movie three to be Kraven-Hired by Harry (Goblin) to kill the spider, and the black cat, also hired by Harry to distract Spider-Man while Kraven hunts him.  We could bump into another villain earlier into the movie as someone spidey stops, but thats the extent that I would go.

2. What killed Gwen?  This is a huge debate, even in the comic.  Did Spider-Man's web kill her, or the fall?  Could he have saved her if he had sent two webs?  Was she dead before she hit the floor?  We'll never know, but if you want to read more about the debate, check out this article I found "The Weirdest Debate in Comic History".

3. Love Interest....My other big question is who is the love interest in the aftermath of Gwen's death?  Shailene Woodley (of Divergent fame) was originally going to be introduced as Mary Jane Watson in TASM2, but her scenes were cut from the film, will she still make it to movie 3?  Probably not, Divergent fared better at the Box Office than Muppets Most Wanted (review coming soon) and a sequel is fully expected, you do the math.  This brings us to another thing, Felica Hardy, Harry Osborn's assistant in the movie.  Her comic book alter-ego, was the cat burglar "Black Cat".  As a love interest she only wanted Spider-Man, and didn't care about who he was without the mask.  Around the time that she was introduced, was also the time that M.J. came back to New York from Florida.  M.J. loved Peter Parker, but not Spider-Man, the exact opposite of the Cat.
This left Peter struggling to decide which person he loved more, eventually choosing M.J.  This love triangle could lead to some pretty good on screen drama to distract him from Kraven...that is, if the producers choose to do that...

Some of the fans who were slightly disapointed by the movie, but enjoyed it (like me), have called for a directors cut.  So far, the petiton has gathered up 10,500 signatures.  If released, this could inlcude more scenes with Harry Osborn/Goblin, the extended clocktower fight, Mary Jane, and the scene with Norman Osborn's head in a cryochamber, that was replaced with a scene from the new X-Men film.
I believe that the person who started this is not in the U.S.A. due to a recent post that said director Marc Webb "favourited" (British spelling!) a tweet regarding the petiton, so things might be moving foward with this idea.  If you are interested in signing the petiton as I did, please see here.

I can't wait for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, but in the mean time, I'm working on a story ideas for TASM3, so if your from the future, click here to see it.  I'll also have commentary on The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3's inagural issues at some point.  And as mentioned the review of Muppet's Most Wanted.  

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER....

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Tony shouldn't still be a jerk, but I guess some thing don't change.

IRON MAN 2

STORY
Shortly after the events of Iron Man, Tony Stark is more popular than ever for revealing his super hero persona.  Then the government puts him on trial for not sharing his tech, and Tony says, "only I have this technology, no other person will develop it for at least ten years, i'm not a threat".  And so as the debate keep raging, someone does in fact recreate the tech, Tony has to take a look at not only how the suit is affecting him, but also Pepper, his company, and the world, when the very thing that is keeping him alive is also killing him.  


CONTENT
More sexual innuendo pppresent than the previous Iron Man film, more languge and more violence, such as drones killing people at a fair.  Tony is jerk for the first hour of the movie, so he's not a role model super hero like Spider-Man or Superman.

CONCLUSION
This is easily the worst movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and besides teasing Thor and Captain America, does nothing for the franchise.  I didn't enjoy the hour of Jerkism displayed, and it was almost unbearable to watch.  Mabey you'll like it, but I didn't.  Some of the scenes were cool, but the film as a whole was unenjoyable.  Why was Black Widow in the movie again?

5 out of 10

DETAILS
STARRING
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes
Mickey Rourke as Ivan
Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/Black Widow
Samuel L. Jackson as Col. Nick Fury

Directed by Jon Favreau

Music by John Debney and AC/DC

Produced by Marvel Studios

Released in 2010

Rated PG-13