Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Review

Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, one of the most critically acclaimed video games ever made. Tomorrow is also the release date of Final Fantasy XIII-2 which isn't really that big a deal but I found it convenient that they where released on the same day. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of FFVII, I mean it is a great game and I see why people like it but my favorite was always Final Fantasy IV. Anyway to celebrate I'm going to review the sequel movie Advent Children.

The story takes place two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII. Cloud and Tifa live together but Cloud is distant due to the guilt of letting Aeris die. To complicate matters a disease called Geostigma has spread around the planet, and three mysterious people are looking for there mother in order to bring back Sephiroth.

Okay let's  begin with what I liked about the movie. The fight scenes are great especially the ones between Tifa and Loz as well as the fight with Bahamut. They also incorporate the battle music from FFVII into the fights, and the music itself is great. The graphics are good however it lacks color. It's usually grey and it make the film feel depressing. Speaking of depressing let's talk about Cloud. He is completely emo in this movie, which is redoing character development he had at the end of Final Fantasy VII. He wasn't this depressed and tortured through most of FFVII.

He totally seems Emo Right?

Then there are the Remnants of Sephiroth, they aren't that treating as villains. Especially since they never shut up about there mother which is a disembodied head. You know your a bad villain when you make Doctor Eggman look like a threat in comparison. I wouldn't mind as much but they have more screen time then most of the characters from FFVII. I mean the Turks have more screen time then the returning characters and there essentially comic relief.

 

The way they bring back Sephiroth also doesn't make much sense. You'd think that since all three of them embody different aspects of him all they would have to do to bring him back is fuse together but instead only one of them turns into Sephiroth while the other two just play dead. Overall this movie is bad but fans will probably like it, or hate it depending on if you became a fan pre or post Final Fantasy 7. Personally It's just to depressing and there are just to many plot holes. I guess TV Tropes really does ruin your life.

Rating 3/5

Street Fighter Legends Ibuki #2 Review

Today were going to take a look at a Street Fighter comic. Street Fighter is a popular fighting game created by Capcom. As with all popular video games it eventually spread out to other medias such as movies and of course comic books. This particular comic stars Ibuki who originally appeared in Street Fighter 3: New Generation.

The story is pretty much this, Ibuki is a girl who was raised to be a ninja. She wanted a normal life so her "father" let her go to school. She starts to find it difficult to balance the drama of School life with the responsibility of being a ninja. Things get even more challenging when one of her classmates Makoto, a hotheaded karate expert, challenges her to a fight risking her secret. The comic ends with her being tasked to fight a martial artist named Oro.

The art is obviously very manga like. It is very nice, and color and the shading is really good. There are a couple two-page spreads in particular that are poster quality. The panel layout is nothing special but when there's a fight scene it becomes more interlocking.

The characters are true to there game counterparts, and in some cases they expand upon them. To be honest it wasn't that hard to do that since they're from Fighting Games which aren't really known for there character driven and involving plots. Speaking of which the story of this book is a bit unoriginal, it's the story of girl trying to have a normal life, and Ibuki isn't the most interesting of characters from the Street Fighter games. Overall it's not bad but not the best, however it does improve later on.

Rating: 2/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Spidey's Supervillian Origin

Batman #5 Review

-----SPOILER WARNING-----

I usually try not to review comics that come out the week of the review due to spoilers and stuff. But I have to make an exception for this. This is one of the best single issues I've read. The comic starts where the last one left off, after pursuing the Court of Owls Batman get's trapped in a maze. The beginning of the comic tells us he's been MIA for 8 days, still trapped in the maze with no food and the only water is from a fountain that might be drugged. We watch Batman start to break down during this whole comic. Then it ends on a cliffhanger that I won't spoil.

The art in this is great, the contrast of the white of the maze and the black of Batman's costume makes it look very unique. The way the book is laid out helps to show that Bruce is going crazy or possibly drugged. They achieve this by shifting the book from the normal look, to side ways, to upside down, and then back to normal. All while the panels start to become more jagged and spread out. The whole thing feels claustrophobic which fits the narrative of the story.

Then there are the characters, first up is of course Batman. We see him backed into a corner, not sure if he's going crazy or is just drugged. Commissioner Gordon has a good scene where he keeps the Bat signal on all 8 days in order to keep up hope, and has some clever foreshadowing by his partner. Damian Wayne despite only being in the ending gets a really emotional scene. Overall this is a great book. I definitely recommend this book, as well as Scott Snyder's run on Detective Comics. It's hands down the best of the New 52. This one is going to be hard to top.

Rating 5/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Rainbow Batman

So much for being the night.

"Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos" First Thoughts

Fullmetal Alchemist is one of those shows I watched when I was younger, and I really liked it. Luckily my local theater was actually showing it, so I went today with a couple of friends and It was decent I guess. Ok first off let me get the good stuff out of the way first. The voice acting was good as always, and some of the fight scenes were good.

However there's the animation that they changed for the movie. The new animation is not good, it's blotchy and looks very lazily drawn. It really comes out during the fight scenes. Then there's the story. It's not that it's bad it just was very cliche, and the fact that most of the dialog in the first half is exposition. One of the villains has one of the most convoluted scheme's I have ever seen in a movie, and another has barley any character development.

Various characters in the show make an appearance, but really don't affect the plot and the characters they introduce are very bland. One of who can be interpreted as a Mary Sue, especially since she does something really bad and it has little to no consequences. The whole thing just felt convoluted and inconsequential to the rest of the series. But for all it's flaws it's not that bad.

Rating: 2/5

Wolverine / Gambit Victims #1 Review

I'm not the biggest X-men fan. I just never really got into it, well except the Sentinel Series and the currently ongoing Ultimate Comics X-men. Today were going to look at another X-men comic from the 90's. As you can see this stars two of the most popular characters at the time Wolverine and Gambit. So let's check it out. The comic opens with the story of Jack the Ripper. We see a woman stalked by a man who looks like Wolverine. Some near by people hear a scream and find the woman who has been killed. It turns out there have been killings in London, and some suspect the return of Jack the Ripper.

We cut to Gambit stealing jewels out of a safe. He is confronted by Rogue who jumps at him, and they both fall through a window. They hit the ground and it revealed that the whole thing including Rogue was a simulation in the danger room. Gambit decides to go to London to investigate the murders.

Gambit sneaks into a police station ad looks through some files. He is interrupted by the Police Inspector, and escapes. He goes to talk to the latest victims family, he doesn't discover anything. When doing more investigating a woman mistakes him for Jack the Ripper, and it turns out to be a trap by the police. Gambit and the police are about to fight when they all hear a scream.

Gambit goes to investigate when he sees a girl running from someone. He fights the mysterious person, and uses his powers to see who he is. It revealed to be Wolverine and he's covered in blood. Gambit asks Wolverine to explain why he's covered in blood, and he can't. They get cornered by a anti-terrorist group called the C.D.I. ,  and the comic ends with a mystery person watching them on a camera.

This is a pretty good comic. The art by Tim Sale is dark which fits the story. The story is interesting, but I hope it doesn't turn out like most Jeph Loeb murder mystery's like Hush and The Long Halloween. But I know that it's not going to turn out as bad as Ultimates 3 or Ultimatum.

Rating: 4/5

My Opinion of the "New 52" Cancellations

Of course you know by now that I really dislike the mass majority of the DC reboot. It seems like DC has decided to cancel six of the New 52 books and replace them with six new books. I kinda new this was going to happen. The books being canceled are Mister Terrific, Static Shock, Hawk and Dove (I'm sure no one is surprised by this), O.M.A.C., Men of War, and Blackhawks. I'm sure I'm the only one who was hoping Red Hood and the Outlaws was canceled, you all know that I hated that with a passion.

Anyway the 6 new comics are Batman Incorporated, Earth 2, World's Finest, The Ravagers, G.I. Combat, and Dial H. I'm not sure how to feel about some of these. Batman Incorporated is just a continuation of the Batman Incorporated book before the reboot, and World's Finest might be interesting since it's going to star Powergirl and Huntress instead of Batman and Superman.

I really have no opinion on G.I. Combat and Dial H since I'm more then likely not going to get them anyway, and The Ravagers is a Teen Titans spin-off that I might like. Then there's Earth 2 which I'll been looking forward to since it's a JSA book. So in closing this might be good.

"Catwoman Short" First Thoughts

When I watched Batman Year One I decided not to give my first thoughts on it, since there wasn't really anything I could of said about it. It was the same as the book. However I had some free time today, so I decided to watch the Catwoman Short that was included on the DVD. I really don't know how to feel about this. I mean the story is set into motion by two guys trying to assassinate a cat. I thought the action was good, and the story wasn't bad.

Then there's the Strip club scene which is blatant Fanservice, and the fact that it seems to be trying to be a sequel to Batman Year One since both Selina and Holy Robinson look like they do in Year One. But Selina wears the modern Catwoman suit instead of the one in Year One. In closing it's good I guess, but It is for a more mature audience. At least it's better then the live action Catwoman movie.

Rating: 2/5

Comic Panel of the Week: Statue of Abraham Lincoln versus Nazi Robots

Now I've seen everything.

Demon Knights #1 Review

Today were looking at another one of the new 52. Yay. But this time it's not a Superhero story. The comic opens with Camelot burning to the ground. A knight tells King Arthur and his servants to flee. They tell him to protect Excalibur as they flee by boat, but he throws it to them. A hand comes out of the water, and grabs it.

One of the servants, who is revealed to be Madame Xanadu, tries to get it but it it disappears in a purple light. Meanwhile Merlin is talking to the demon Etrigan, when they're interrupted by Jason Blood who tells Merlin that he should escape. Merlin tells him about his destiny, and imprisons Etrigan inside of him.

Jason tries to ask him why he did that, but Merlin disappears. We cut to the Dark Ages, where a man is offering his child to a man named Mordru in order to protect the village. Mordru asks the baby some questions, it gets possessed, and then explodes. Why. Well apparently the body was to weak to contain the thing that was possessing him. But why did it have to explode, that's kinda overkill. Why didn't it just, oh I dunno, stop possessing him! Anyway Mordru then starts to plan his next move.

We cut to Jason, and Xanadu who have been pretending to be pilgrims. They see two men arguing about one man's (which is Vandal Savage) entrance into an inn. Vandal Savage just decides to break through the gate, and Jason decides to go talk with him since they know each other. They are talking in a bar about the fall of Camelot when there interrupted by Sir Ystin the Shinning Knight., from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers.

Kinda random that she's here at a bar in a random village. But hey, I'll roll with it. They then overhear a man arguing with the Bar owner, because he won't serve him since he's not from around here. A girl defends him by saying that they'll serve her but not him yet she's from farther away then him.

Meanwhile a man is being attacked when a mysterious woman saves him. Back at the bar the Queen's horde break in and demands everything they have. Jason decides to stop them and turns into Etrigan. He asks Xanadu why he was brought out this time. She point's him to the right direction, and it's revealed they sort of have a thing.

You know what I'm just done trying to explain things. They Bar fight to end all Bar fights breaks out. Mordru senses a disturbance in the force, and the comic ends with him summoning two Dragons to eliminate it. Even though they look more like Dinosaurs.

Except for the exploding baby thing and the endless questions this comic wasn't half bad. It's a good Fantasy comic, and I'm pretty sure the questions will be answered in latter issues. This was one of the better of the New 52.

Rating: 3/5 (I'm going to stop rating with decimals)

Comic Panel of the Week: Evil Bruce Banner

Because creating a bunch of Hulk monsters isn't crazy at all.