Hey Howdy Hey People of the Internet and welcome to my blog Wolfathon!
Here I do written reviews of films, TV shows and video games along and other posts too!
I'm also on YouTube and my channel is quite simply called Wolfman407-. On there, I upload footage of games I have reviewed and do other things like talk about different topics and hauls (both in the form of a vlog).
Thanks for checking my blog out and Peace to you all!
July is here and with it are some new releases worth checking out and a few I will avoid like the plague, *cough* Barbie *cough*.
And that's just filming. I will also check out things on television too and also video games if there are any good ones worth your time.
That's all from me. Enjoy your respective independence days and if you haven't already, consider following my blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel @Wolfman407-
Or just go by its Japanese name, whichever you prefer. So anime seems to be a rare thing for Disney+ as there isn't as much there in that area as say, Netflix or pretty much any streaming service where anime is the main thing. But when it does appear on Disney+ whether via the Star hub or some other means, it is usually great to see. They may not be doing well in most places, but anime, which is one thing they don't do a lot of, seems to work out for them somehow. Plus, seeing as it's been a while since I last reviewed something that is anime, I thought to check this one out. It has been part of the Japanese manga magazine Monthly Afternoon for a while and the production company behind it, known as Production I.G. is one I'm quite familiar with. So let's go and see what this is all about:
The anime itself is split into two loosely connected stories. The first sees a young duo of friends called Maru (voiced by Jonathan Leon) and Kiruko (voiced by Anjali Kunapaneni) traverse a post apocalyptic world in search of something that looks and feels like Heaven. While the second is focused on a group of children, living in a secure facility with dreams of, one day, going out of said facility.
Although it has some similarities to The Last of Us, this anime is pretty good. It tackles some mature themes well, with one of the big ones being gender and how it affects people in big and small ways. It's also one of those things that has a good balance of humour and serious/emotional moments, which can be hard to do, but looks pretty Dang awesome when it's executed well. The animation is pretty good too and very much how most anime things, look. 9/10
He's back everybody! The man, who has his own unique style and loves a big cast, is back for another film. Yes, this is a Wes Anderson film. His 11th film and the first to feature newcomers Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Steve Carell. All great actors in their own right with a number of awards and such under their names. It's a sci-fi one this time around, with a plot that shows two very different sides to the story. It's the first Anderson film in a while to be distributed by Universal (via Focus Features) which seems to be the go-to major film studio that is very much still about the big screen experience despite having their own streaming service. Or rather, they are more willing to go that route for selected films and filmmakers than the likes of say Disney and Warner Brothers. What a way for those two to celebrate 100 years eyy? Anyway, let's check this film out:
As mentioned, this film is told in two perspectives. A television show host (played by Bryan Cranston) explains that what we are about to see is a televised production of the titular "Asteroid City", itself being told to us as if it was in its own fictional universe. The play is by famed playwright Conrad Earp (played by Edward Norton) and is all about a youth astronomy convention in a fictional desert town of the same name. While the play itself is in stylized colour and widescreen, the events of the television special are shown in black and white with an Academy ratio. Shenanigans take place which leads to a bizarre cast of characters, sharing a town and later on, isolation when something a little strange happens. While other things take place in the television special too.
Although a little unbalanced in places, this is as Wes Anderson as you are going to get. It's got style, a great cast of characters and the switching between universes is a nice touch if a little distracting in places. Also, despite the 12 rating we got here, it's acknowledged that there is a brief scene of nudity. But only brief, so no need for the BBFC to drastically change it. 8/10
I thought instead of spending every single week going through Steam games (because that's bound to get tiresome eventually), I decided to check out the latest Nintendo Direct and I got to say, nearly all their franchises get some love.
Of course the main headlines are the upcoming Pokémon games which include the latest main entry games and a sequel to Detective Pikachu which I'm not entirely certain people were asking for.
Then there's Pikmin 4 which looks to be a more smooth sailing entry to the series in terms of how to go about foraging and that at long last, there is no time limit, and we can go out at night too among other things.
A big deal however in this presentation was what's coming up for Super Mario. Not only is there a remake of Super Mario RPG in the works, but we now know what to expect in the next wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tracks and the next Super Mario Bros. game in which they finally do something different from being the rinse and repeat saga that was the New Super Mario Bros. games. Elephant Mario, no time limit, things happening in the background and a style that seems reminiscent of other 2.5D platforming games with things happening in the background. All wonderful stuff.
But we're not done there, as Amiibo is back! Specifically for characters from Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Also, a few of the Batman Arkham games are being ported to Switch. I say a few because it's missing Origins which has since become a cult classic and the other ones too.
Going back to Mario, Wario has got another WarioWare game on the way which looks like fun as it has always been (with some humour too).
Lots of other thing on the way too, including ports of several Metal Gear games and the next 2D Sonic game too.
A pretty solid Nintendo Direct with a focus solely on the games and some accessories. The next few months are looking pretty good for Nintendo gamers.
The anthology series that is dark and twisted and started off with the prime minister f**king a pig, is back. I didn't know if Black Mirror would return at all after a very long hiatus (or what feels like it, anyway). But it is back with 5 brand-new stories, each with their own darkness and twisted nature to them, and possibly technology will be involved again as it has been before. Let's go:
So this season has one episode about someone's life being adapted to a streaming service like Netflix, another one about people doing a true-crime story, another set in space in an alternate 1969, one about a photographer trying to find her big break and the final one is about a shop assistant who is told by a demon to do thing in order to save the world from destruction. The final episode being labelled Red Mirror due to it being more about the supernatural instead of the dark side of technology. Featuring the talented cast of Rob Delaney, Ben Barnes, Cate Blanchett, Annie Murphy, Kate Mara, Aaron Paul and more!
After the last season which was very divisive, it's nice to see it back on form. All six stories are great, each with their own style, stakes and of course, darkness. It's always been an intriguing show, for sure, and I look forward to seeing where it goes next. Whether it be feature films, spin-offs or whatever else, Black Mirror is here to stay as long as Charlie Brooker continues to have ideas for it. 9/10
Yeah, a lot of us were not looking forward to this one. After everything that happened with Ezra Miller, it's probably just as well that this will be their last film for a while. I was actually looking forward to this since its initial announcement, and even more so when it was revealed that the storyline will be a loose take on the Flashpoint story from the comics. One that has been adapted twice before on the small screen and now on the big screen. But then of course Miller did what they did to those minors, and then my excitement turned to dread. But Michael Keaton is back, so maybe he will save the film as well as Ben Affleck, who fell off DC's radar after Josstice League (but made a substantial return in Zack Snyder's Justice League). It can't be that bad, right? Well, let's take a look at this anyway and get it over and done with:
So after what looks like WB's 100th logo opening (or something like it, but cool all the same), we see The Flash (reprised for probably the final time for a while, by Miller) help Batman (reprised by Ben Affleck for the penultimate time most likely) and Wonder Woman (also probably penultimately reprised by Gal Gadot) help stop a bank robbery and save a lot of babies in the Maternity ward of one of Gotham's hospitals. Soon afterwards, Flash goes to revist his childhood home to remember his youth. Upon learning, he can go back in time to prevent the murder of his mother Nora (played by Maribel Verdú), he consults Bruce Wayne about it. Despite Bruce missing his own parents, he warns Barry of the potential consequences of his actions, but Flash goes ahead anyway. His actions, cause a fellow speedster to knock him out of the Speed Force and into an alternative reality where his mum is alive, but the Justice League were never formed due to lack of meta humans and other superheroes. With an alternative General Zod (reprised by Michael Shannon) arriving to Earth to do what he did in Man of Steel, Barry enlists the help of his younger alternative self, a different yet familiar Batman (reprised by Michael Keaton) and a Kryptonian that isn't Superman (played by Sasha Calle) to stop him, while trying to regain his powers and return to his own timeline.
I know I don't usually go in depth with the plot, but I felt it was necessary here because it's a film I know not many of you are planning to see. I felt it was OK. The first half annoyed me because of Ezra Miller's annoying laugh, with the only good bits being the return of Batfleck and Wonder Woman. Whereas, the second half, made the film a little better as soon as Keaton donned the Bat suit once again for what will most likely be his final time doing so. The CGI throughout is up there with MODOK from Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. It's that bad and for the guy that directed the IT films and also Mama, this is just a mess of a film. You might like it or not, but for me, you are not missing much here. Hopefully the last two DCEU films are better than this mess, and if you want a better Flashpoint adaptation, watch Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. 6/10
Some people thought that Fall Guys could never be replicated. I mean, it's like this TV show we used to have here in the UK called Total Wipeout where people attempt these different obstacle courses that are over the top, all for the sake of entertainment and presumably some kind of glory at the end. Then Fall Guys came along to work on that formula and turn it into a competitive multiplayer game. Sounds a bit more like Takashi's Castle more than anything, doesn't it? But its success has, of course, meant that a lot of other developers, want a piece of that action and here we have Scopely's take on it. It's currently a free to play game on Steam, so let's take a look:
The game is pretty much Fall Guys in a nutshell. But with more human looking avatars, each of which are fully customizable. 17 unique obstacle courses exist and apart from those, it's pretty much, as I said, a Fall Guys clone of sorts.
On the upside, games like Fall Guys are becoming more exclusive to Epic Games over Steam. But the former will probably never get to the stage Steam is at with its years worth of games ranging from indie titles, to big triple A games and games that most digital shopfronts would outright ban (you'd be amazed by the amount of adult only games on Steam). But anyway, this game is fine. Good fun despite being close to a Fall Guys clone and easy to pick up too. 7/10
Sometimes, the best adaptations of books are on TV. More room to flesh things out and stories that can be spread across multiple episodes and seasons. Unlike films where it can only do so much before cuts need to be made. To ultimately allow cinemas to release it under running time rules. Some of the best and most well known TV shows out there are indeed based on books, and so is this one. Based on a series of books by Leigh Bardugo, Netflix are taking a risk in making a series that has a lot of unknown faces, but with a few well known ones too like Ben Barnes and Zoe Wanamaker. Let's take a look:
Returning to A24 this week as we look at another film that's dark, twisted, unsettling and more. Directed by the guy who did this year's film Beau is Afraid and having a pretty largely unknown cast unless you've watched a lot of TV recently, this one I have been told is quite possibly more f***ed up than the other A24 films I have seen thus far. But it's great because they are a company known to allowing the filmmakers to really push themselves in what they can do when compared to much bigger studios who expect cuts and deadlines to be done. But anyway, let's get to it (and also go to my YouTube channel Wolfman407- to see two shorts of my reactions to the first half an hour and the end of it):
The film is centred on this family who, following the funeral of the children's distant grandmother, start to have some pretty weird stuff happen. Starting the grandmother's grave which becomes desecrated and then continues when the children (played by Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro) go to a party. The youngest, called Charlie, becomes unwell and her older brother, Peter, takes her home. But when he goes at high speed, and she sticks her head out, well you can guess what happens there, and it's just the start of more weird and unsettling things that happen to the family.
It goes without saying that this is very f***ed up. There have been tons of films like that where I feel it's just too messed up, and it's not just the A24 films where I feel that's the case. The Human Centipede films come to mind here, as do many other films too. But yeah, this is perhaps the most f***ed up of all the A24 films I have seen thus far. Looking forward to their next f***ed film, whatever that will be. 8/10
It's another Steam special and also another roguelike game too. Published by Curve which I have played games of before, I've always been interested in the games they do. They tend to publish games that have a certain uniqueness to them. At least that's the feeling I get when I see their published games. Regardless, it's an RPG with roguelike elements, which are both things I find some enjoyment in. So let's get to it:
So you, the player, can choose from one of several different adventures on the offset. Each one offering a unique goal or challenge for you to complete. You can play alone or with friends via co-op with every arena being randomly generated, but consistent in what they offer in terms of towns, enemies and so forth. Most scenarios have you in a group of up to three characters and, as such, three players if you end up playing with friends. Each character can be given their own class and cosmetic appearance, both of which determine the starting weapons, gear and your strengths and weaknesses. Seven traits can be applied to your characters, each with a value ranging from 1-95, but usually never below 40. Combat is quite similar to tabletop RPG games, but not quite the same. Still very much turn based, but the game does its own spin to it in some way.
There's a lot to unpack for this game, but I hope I have given you guys the best idea of what to expect. It's a pretty decent game overall with some punishing elements, but all the while, rewarding in the end. Good fun, but again, a little punishing in places. 8/10
Yep, the franchise is still going. The main show may have ended, but it spin-offs (current, new and upcoming) are keeping it alive. It's been a pretty amazing franchise, and despite my vlog about the state of it, I'm happy it's still trying to keep afloat with the spin-offs. Now this season of Fear the Walking Dead is perhaps the most shocking and also the one that has the most surprises in terms of characters old and new and what's been happening in it. Let's take a look:
Much of the season sees the survivors scattered around the landscape of Texas following a nuclear fallout, which was bought about by the followers of Teddy (reprised by John Glover) and the man himself. As Morgan (reprised by Lennie James) and Strand (reprised by Colman Domingo) clash over their philosophies, the survivors do what they can for one another as at least one of them suffers a terrible fate and, one that we thought was long dead, makes a surprise return.
With this being the penultimate season, I kind of like how more intense and dark it is compared to other seasons. The title sequence, which has been using the same theme since Lennie's first season, reflects on that in a way, with it changing in every episode. Overall, I enjoyed the twists and just watching it in general. Not sure where it will go in the final season (of which I have not seen yet), but with these surprise returns and whatnot, it's bound to get interesting for sure. 9/10
It's a rare thing for a second film to be even better or on par with the first one, and the stakes were indeed high with this sequel to Into the Spider-Verse. Yet somehow, this film not only ends up being better than the first, but takes advantage of different styles for each of the Spider-People and the worlds that we end up visiting. Yeah, these kinds of films are definitely worth your time and should be given a chance at the awards because this is a film that looks like a lot of time and effort went into it with all the stuff I mentioned. Also, people saying this is unexpectedly doing well, that's rubbish. Anyone who knows Sony and Spider-Man well, will know that this film will do well, whatever happens. Clearly, the people using the word "unexpectedly" haven't seen these Marvel films before. But anyway, it's going to be a difficult one to talk about with revealing too much, but here we go:
On the Earth that is designated as Earth-65, Gwen Stacy (reprised by Hailee Steinfeld) is having a hard time living up to the expectations of her police captain father (voiced by Shea Whigham) who is unaware of her being Spider-Woman and blames that superhero for the supposed murder of her best friend and that Earth's Peter Parker (voiced by Jack Quaid). On one of Spider-Woman's patrols, she encounters an Italian Renaissance version of Vulture (voiced by Jorma Taccone of Spider-Man 67 fame) who is then stopped by a group of Spider-People from other universes, known collectively as the Spider-Society. With Gwen's identity revealed to her father and feeling like not wanting to stick around, Gwen leaves with the team, who offer her a place. Meanwhile, on Earth-1610, a villain known as the Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) who has interdimensional abilities, makes himself known to Miles Morales (reprised by Shameik Moore) and with plans that threaten the multiverse at large, he too encounters the Spider-Society who grant him a place somewhat too, but with some shocking revelations that could endanger the multiverse even more.
I will say that the complexity of what the Spider-Society is and so forth, makes this film one that theorists will have a field day with, for sure. I love the styles that the animators gave to the different Spider-People in this, like the British one who looks like British newspapers and the Lego one which feels like and almost certainly is a nod to The Lego Movie which Lord and Miller, who wrote this film, directed. It's also great to see references to No Way Home and the Spider-People that appeared in that. Of course this being a massive film, it ends on a cliffhanger because it's just too big to be in just one film. The firsts succeeded as one film because it was a small group of Spider-People there. But this time, there are many more of them and it's good to finally get a taste of the multiverse on the big screen too. I have a feeling that Oscar Issac's Spider-Person could end up being the main antagonist for this two part adventure, but who knows. Anyway, this was an amazing sequel (one that once again uses some mature themes to make out that IT'S NOT JUST FOR KIDS!!) and I cannot wait to see part two (Beyond the Spider-Verse) next year. 10/10
Yep, it's time for another cooking game! This time, from the good people at Yogscast who many of you will know as the guys that do lots of livestreams and most Christmases, do charity livestreams where they offer these big game bundles. I believe I got this game from one of those bundles and while the bundles can feel a little random with what's on offer, at least it's all quality games and not those from way down the rubbish hole of Steam. Anyway, let's look at this one:
So if you have never played a game like this, it's basically managing your own restaurant and making sure everyone gets their orders and the correct orders in good time. You can do this with up to four players, and you start from scratch. Lots of freedom in how your restaurant is run and what you offer to your customers. Do what you like, cook what you like, and don't let those pesky customers put you down.
Yeah, that's pretty much the game in a nutshell. Lots of freedom to how you make the restaurant, and you don't have to do it alone too. In fact, your friends don't even need to have their own copy of the game. They can just join your session. Best to be played online for sure. Don't know if it's innovative or whatever, as I don't play too many of these games. But it was certainly good fun, for sure. That I can say. 9/10
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