The Walking Dead Issue 178: Sebastian, The Walking Dead’s version of Joffrey?

It seems like Game of Thrones may have influenced The Walking Dead in issue 178, or at least that is what everyone else is saying about the character of Sebastian.
This issue really showed how much of a jerk he was and naturally this, combined with his spoiled upbringing, has caused many people to compare him to the hundreds-of-people-praying-for-him-to-die character, Joffrey from Game of Thrones.
Sebastian certainly is an entitled jerk of a character, as can bee seen in the final moments of the issue when he starts a fight by assaulting Yumiko, Magna and Elodie just because Yumiko would not go on a private tour with him (shudder).
This scene did have the best moments of the issue though, with Princess showing off her skills by beating up a bunch of Commonwealth soldiers after they tried to defend Sebastian.
As someone who did not like Princess previously, it was nice to see her fighting those soldiers for her friends because it made her more likeable.
On top of this, the reveal that came afterwards, at the end of the issue, also had a lot of great implications.
I predicted in my review of Issue 176 that The Commonwealth was built on a class system and Elodie’s comment that, “it’s important we know our place,” basically confirmed this prediction.
Despite the fact that Sebastian just assaulted three people he will not get arrested because he is Governor Milton’s son, while Princess probably will be arrested for trying to defend her friends.
This is an interesting turn of events because, as I mentioned in my review of Issue 176, this probably means Governor Milton sees herself as above everyone else and will want to take over Alexandria and the other communities.
These final moments of the Issue were really entertaining and had some great revelations.
Another great moment in the issue was a touching scene between Michonne and Elodie, where Michonne reconnects with her and assures her that, even if Elodie hates her, she will always be there for her.
This was a great part because of Elodie’s constant changing expression across the different panels as Michonne assured her that she would be there.
However, in comparison to these moments the rest of the issue was lacking.
It was revealed in the beginning of the issue that Mercer and George were just letting off steam when Siddiq overheard them talking about overthrowing Milton, which makes the previous cliffhanger feel very misleading.
Then there was the part when Sophia confronted her mother about Dante, which I did not like at all.
It had the potential to be a good scene but it was ruined by how over-the-top Sophia was.
Yes, Sophia did have justifiable reasons to be angry about Maggie and Dante’s relationship but she went too far by calling Maggie a f*#@ing w!*#e .
This over-the-top reaction was made worse when Sophia seemed to be completely over it and jokes about it with Maggie minutes later.
There was also a weird inconsistency this issue with Stephanie.
When she was first introduced in Issue 176, Stephanie was Caucasian but in this issue she is African-American and this was a little odd to see.
Overall though, this issue was still good, despite the weird inconsistency and the over-the-top Sophia scene.
It certainly has me intrigued about what Governor Milton will do when she reaches Alexandria two issues from now.

Ready Player One: Pop Culture References as Far as the Eye Can See.

If you were to take a shot every time a pop culture reference appeared in Ready Player One, you would probably die of alcohol poisoning half way through the movie.
Directed by the great Stephen Spielberg, Ready Player One is pop culture reference, after pop culture reference.
Thankfully however, these constant references do not overshadow the movie itself they merely expand upon it.
The film is set in 2045 and there is nowhere left to escape to so everyone spends their time in a massive virtual world, known as The Oasis.
After the death of its creator James Halliday, it is announced he hid an Easter Egg in The Oasis and whoever finds it will become the sole owner of it.
Gamer Wade Watts, known as Parzival in the game (Tye Sheridan), is one of those who sets out to find this Easter Egg, along with his friend Aech (Lena Waithe), his crush Art3mis and others.

Ready Player One is definitely a spectacle.
Every time the characters step into the Oasis there is something to grab your eye.
For every pop culture reference you do not understand there will be three that you do.
The Iron Giant, Terminator 2, Godzilla, even Chucky, these are some of the many references left for viewers to spot.
The action sequences that go along with this are also fantastic to watch, helped greatly by the movie’s use of effects.
The CGI in Ready Player One looks like a video game… however, unlike my Justice League review, this is not a criticism.
The Oasis is a video game so it makes sense that the effects look like this and it improves the film.

video game effects and constant pop culture references help set up the world of The Oasis.

But spectacle alone does not make a film.
The story and characters also have to be good and Ready Player One, for the most part, certainly delivers on this.
The story mixes well with the visuals and what the movie is trying to say and the characters are all likeable.
However, that being said they do not go through that much character growth.
This is especially apparent when Wade goes through a traumatic loss in one scene and seems to have completely forgotten about it in the very next scene.
Also, while I did believe the relationship between Wade and Art3mis, it did feel very rushed.

Wade and Art3mis — Although this relationship does feel real, it comes across as rushed.

Other than that though, the characters were all very well done and likeable, except of course for the ones you are supposed to hate, like Ben Mendelsohn’s Nolan.
Ready Player One really gives the viewer an appreciation for pop culture.
Above all that though, it is immersive, which given the movie’s setting of The Oasis, is exactly what was needed.

Pacific Rim Uprising: Entertaining Action Sequences but Not a Whole Lot Else

Well, Pacific Rim got a sequel and now I wish it did not.
Directed by Stephen S. DeKnight, Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega as Jake Pentecost, the son of Stacker Pentecost, one of the main characters of the first movie, who was played by Idris Elbda.
Pentecost is dragged back into the Jaegar program with teenage girl Amara Namani, played by Cailee Spaeny, who somehow created a Jaegar all by herself, just as a new threat to the world arises, not just from Kaiju.
Pacific Rim Uprising can be entertaining at times but this is only during its action sequences.
The rest of the movie, on the other hand, can be boring and cringe worthy at times, which was not the same in the original.
Credit where it’s due, John Boyega does give the best performance of the movie but he is not enough to save it.

The rest of the characters, including Amara, were very boring because they were either incredibly one dimensional or, in Amara’s case, they had a tragic backstory that we had seen done before with another character.
I even did not like what they did with the characters they brought back from the previous movie, especially Charlie Day’s character Newt.
I liked Newt and his rivalry with Herman, played by Burn Gorman, in the first Pacific Rim but in the sequel their relationship feels wrong and the way Newt was utilized was not at all fitting.

newt — Charlie Day’s Newt was not taken in the right direction in the sequel.

The movie tries to keep the scenes where there is no action interesting by inserting comedy but most of these jokes fall flat on their face.
Along with Boyega the one redeeming quality of the movie is the action.
It is fun, explosive and has tonnes of destruction to enjoy.
If you want to watch this movie just to see giant robots and monsters fighting each other then you are going to be entertained, otherwise it will be a bit of a slog.

Tomb Raider: The first good video game movie in a while.

What’s this?
A good video game movie?
The world’s gone mad!
Cats are befriending dogs, the space time continuum has imploded, the end is nigh!
In all seriousness though, it is incredibly rare that we get a good video game movie (just look at Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed or any of the Resident Evil movies) so when it happens it is reason to celebrate.
Now, I am not saying that Tomb Raider is a shining example of film making but it is great to see a good video game movie after so many duds.
Directed by Roar Uthaug and based off the popular video game series, Tomb Raider stars Alicia Vikander as the tomb raider herself, Lara Croft.
This movie serves more as an origin story for Lara and how she becomes the action hero from the video games.
It picks up years after her father’s disappearance, when Lara discovers evidence of where he disappeared to and goes to rescue him, only to have her life threatened by a secret organisation known as Trinity.
The thing that makes Tomb Raider really work is Vikander as Lara Croft.
She really sells the character and gives a great performance, especially in the action scenes, which are excellently shot.

Alicia Vikander does a great job as Lara Croft.

Every action sequence is exciting and edge of your seat.
Lara is not the only interesting character in the movie though, as her companion Lu Ren, played by Daniel Wu, is also likeable and well acted.
However, the movie does have problems that hold it back.
The biggest problem the movie has is the story.
It follows a lot of the cliches seen in other adventure movies, like Indiana Jones and even the previous Tomb Raider movies, with Angelina Jolie, and does get predictable at times.
Also some of the scenes just felt unnecessary.
The opening scene is of Lara’s father Richard, played by Dominic West, narrating about the figure everyone is searching for, Himiko.
About twenty minutes later, we get a scene of Laura listening to a recording her father made, which is the exact same dialogue we heard in the intro of the movie.
We already know this information but the movie repeats it.
Although these problems do hold the movie back however, they do not doom it.
The likability of Lara, Vikander’s performance as her and the thrilling action sequences make this a very enjoyable movie to sit through.
It might not be great but it is still enjoyable, which for a video game movie is saying a lot.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Review.

Funnily enough, I actually watched the Cowboy Bebop Movie before I saw the TV show.
It was on a trip with a youth group a few years ago when I first saw it and I remember really enjoying the film.
I did not learn about the show the movie was based on until recently.
So, after reviewing that, I decided that it was only natural to review the movie but I wondered if it would still hold up because it had been a few years since I had seen it.
But I was glad to find that the movie was just as great as I found it be when I first watched it two years ago.
The movie apparently takes place sometime in between episodes 22 and 23 and follows bounty hunters Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed as they hunt down a terrorist with a $300 million bounty on him.

cowboy-bebeop-crew — The Bebop crew’s reaction to the $300 million bounty placed on the terrorist.

The film is very well animated and acted by its English dub cast (I have not watched the Japanese version yet), but it is the music by Yoko Kanno that really steals the show with both jazzy and haunting use of music.
One of the more interesting elements that the movie introduces is its new characters.
There is Elektra, a soldier tasked with hunting the terrorist and has a personal connection to him, Lee, a nerdy hacker who has always wanted to try being a terrorist and the terrorist himself, Vincent.
I really liked Vincent as a villain because he was really threatening, had a compelling backstory and not to mention the fact that his voice just sends chills down your spine.

Vincent is both a compelling and creepy villain, who can also be sympathetic at times.

Another thing I really liked about the movie was its action sequences.
Even though they were animated they were well choreographed and a joy to watch.
The fights in the show sometimes felt like they should have gone on for longer but could not because of the short run time of each episode so these extended fights were really great to see.
As for negatives, I suppose the one problem I had was that the character of Jet does not really do much fighting.
He just stands around and gives a few speeches, but that is not a huge flaw that overshadows anything.
Overall, The Cowboy Bebop Movie is fantastic.
I think I even enjoyed the movie more than I did the actual show, not to say the show was not great or anything.
I loved The Cowboy Bebop movie just as much as I did two years ago and any fan of the show should watch it.

Issue 177 of The Walking Dead: Good Issue With a Bad Cliffhanger.

In issue 177 of The Walking we got to meet more news characters, saw ones we had not seen in a while and had a few interruptions of intimate moments (wink).
The issue starts off with Rick reading a poem Mikey wrote about the death of his mother.
It was nice to see Rick again, who had been absent for three issues, which is apparently the longest time he has ever been absent in the series.
The scene between Rick and Mikey was very touching because of how Rick reacts to Mikey bringing up Andrea’s death.
Rick comments that he, “wouldn’t even know where to begin,” when writing a poem about her.
I like that Rick is still shown to be grieving Andrea, something that will probably take him many issues to bounce back from.
Although, it should be said that Rick will never be completely the same, considering that he loved her more than Lori.
Next at the Hilltop, we saw Maggie and Dante choose the absolute worst spot to hook up.
Seriously, if Maggie wanted to be discreet about her and Dante’s new relationship why did they choose a weapons shack where anyone could walk in?
Naturally, someone does and after that awkward situation we meet two new important characters named Sebastian and Mercer.
Sebastian is the son of Governor Milton and Mercer is his bodyguard.
Unfortunately for Mercer, Sebastian is a jerk who sees Mercer as below him, even though Mercer just saved him and his girlfriend’s life from multiple zombies.
This, however, did lead to a very funny moment where Sebastian criticized Mercer for not being able to handle two Walkers quickly and in the very next panel it reveals there were actually more than ten of them, which Mercer killed.
Then we finally get the conversation between Michonne and her daughter Elodie that had been built up the past two Issues.

michonne and elodie — Michonne shares a heartfelt moment with her daughter Elodie.

This was one of my favourite moments of Issue 177 because we learnt that Elodie is a real chip off the old block, when she reveals she murdered the men who raped her and murdered her sister.
This was very surprising to me because I thought Elodie would have found The Commonwealth early on and not had to resort to violence previously.
But no, just like Michonne, she has had to kill people to survive and knows exactly how bad things can get.
This may prove to be very interesting as their relationship progresses, with Elodie maybe helping Michonne in battle, instead of Michonne having to constantly protect her.
After this however, we get what I feel is the weakest part of the Issue and that is the cliffhanger.
Mercer meets with another soldier named George and the two discuss overthrowing Governor Milton, only to see Siddiq has overheard this conversation.

I do not like this cliffhanger for two reasons.
Number one, if Mercer and George were not just blowing off steam and are actually planning to overthrow Governor Milton, then this is happening too quickly.
The group just arrived at The Commonwealth.
It would have been better to have them, and thus the readers, get a better sense of the community before introducing this plot line.
Number two, this cliffhanger seemed way too similar to the scene Issue 89 when Glenn overheard Nicholas conspiring to kill Rick.
However, this might not turn out so bad if Mercer is just blowing off steam and I really hope he is because Mercer seems like a good character.
Overall, Issue 177 was a good Issue.
It introduced us to some interesting characters like Mercer and Sebastian and I really liked where Kirkman took Elodie’s story.
But the scene between Maggie and Dante was kind of dumb considering the loss of logic on Maggie’s part and I did not like the cliffhanger.

Three, two, one, let’s jam with Cowboy Bebop.

Of all the anime I have heard of, Cowboy Bebop has garnered the most praise.
I have heard people call it one of the best anime of all time so I had to check it out and see if it was worth all the praise.
And I can definitely say, Cowboy Bebop is a fantastic anime.
The series is set in 2071 with four bounty hunters Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine and Ed Wong, (by the way Ed is a girl, I know it is a boy’s name) who chase their bounties across the galaxy, on their ship the Bebop.

The show is more than just about them hunting bounties though because each of the Bebop crew has a complex past that is often explored in great detail.
Spike and Jet’s pasts were both greatly explored throughout the series and I really got a sense of who they were.
Even characters who seemed one note at first were explored in very complex ways in later episodes.
For example, Faye did not seem to be that complex at first, seeming like a damsel in distress type character and just eye candy, however, as the show went on, she was developed just as well as Spike and Jet.
The characters’ backgrounds are explored in some fantastic episodes like Ballad of Fallen Angels, Jupiter Jazz part one and two, Speak Like a Child and the two part finale The Real Folk Blues.
Even episodes that do not focus on the main story or the characters’ pasts, like Sympathy for the Devil and Pierrot le Fou are fantastic.

sympathy for the devil — Sympathy for the Devil is one of the best episodes of the show as it plays out rather unpredictably.

These episodes are complimented by the incredible music composed by Yoko Kanno, which is now one of my favourite scores in any TV series.
You will find yourself humming along to the jazzy intro every time it comes up.
But, even though there are so many great things about Cowboy Bebop, there are a few flaws.
As I mentioned earlier, the character of Faye initially only seemed to be a damsel in distress character, constantly needing to be saved by Spike and Jet, whose only purpose in the story was to be eye candy.
This made Faye’s character hard for me to get into initially but I will admit when they started getting into her backstory she got a lot more interesting.
Yes, she still got captured a lot but at least she was compelling.
Another thing I had an issue with was the final two episodes.
Even though these were fantastic episodes they happened too quickly.
It felt like instead of being two parts the final episodes should have had three or four parts instead.
Finally, there were a few episodes that just did not work for me.
In my opinion, the worst episode of the show was Toys in the Attic.

toys in the attic — Jet keels over in Toy’s in the Attic, a plot point that is never resolved.

This episode was basically one big Alien reference and had almost not resolution to one of the main plot threads.
Still, there were so many fantastic episodes that easily overshadowed the weaker ones.
Overall, I can definitely see why Cowboy Bebop is considered one of the best anime of all time.
For me, it just falls a little short of being completely perfect but that does not change the fact that it is still a great watch.
It has compelling characters, episodes and music, which will make you have a whole new appreciation for jazz.

The Heart of The Walking Dead is Gone So What Happens Next?

Contains major spoilers for recent episodes:

I am ashamed to admit it but I have been in denial for a long time when it comes to The Walking Dead.
Just look at my earlier reviews and you will see I have been overpraising the show at times.
I gave the episode The Big Scary U five stars when it was not really worth that.
Looking back, its clear to me the reason I did that was because I was holding The Walking Dead to its own standards.
I was not rating episodes based on how good they were but on how good they were compared to the weaker episodes.
The thing that finally cleared my vision regarding this was the reveal of Carl’s fatal bite in the season 8 mid-season finale, How Its Gotta Be.

Carl was the heart of The Walking Dead.
One of the main themes in both the show and the comic is how a zombie apocalypse would affect the development of a child and the person they would grow up to be because of it.
Now, the show has lost that theme.
To top it all off, Carl was incredibly important in the upcoming Whisperer arc, due to his relationship with Lydia from the comic.
They could still do this storyline in the show but they would have to replace Carl with a minor character, now that he is dead.
In short, I believe that killing off Carl is one of the worst decisions the show has ever made.
They have taken the character who was the representation of the story and killed him off.
That shows how desperate the showrunners are getting.
The mid-season premiere aired on Monday, featuring Carl’s death, and that did not do anything to sway my fears.

carl dies — Carl, played by Chandler Riggs, says goodbye to Rick and Michonne.

Carl’s death was poorly done for two reasons.
Number one, the way he got bit was really idiotic.
Number two, Rick’s reaction to Carl’s death.
Rick acted like he would if Morgan had died, not his own son.
When Lori died in season three, Rick was an emotional wreck and it took him an entire season to recover from it.
However, with Carl, who meant so much more to him than Lori, Rick acts like he lost a friend, instead of his son.
The Walking Dead does not really seem like it knows what it is doing anymore.
However, that being said, it is possible for the show to not only bounce back from this but to come back better than ever.
The first reason it could do this is that The Walking Dead is getting a new showrunner, Angela Kang, who has worked on the show for a while and know how it works.
The second reason it that season nine will deal with The New Beginning story arc.
This arc changed everything in the comic.
The story jumped years ahead and gave us a fresh look at the characters.
It even introduced some of the most frightening villains The Walking Dead has ever given us, with The Whisperers.
So, Carl’s death might not be the end for the show.
The Walking Dead may have lost its heart but it just needs to find it again.
And if it doesn’t… well, at least we still have the comic.

Black Panther makes its fictional country a character in its own right.

After Civil War it was expected that Black Panther would eventually get his own movie and now it is finally here.
Black Panther is a superhero I did not know that much about beforehand so I came into the movie not sure what to expect.
Needless to say, this movie blew me away.
It had a great story, set of characters and setting.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther is set in the fictional country of Wakanda and this country felt like a character itself.
Seeing African customs alongside this futuristic city is something we have never seen before and made it really exciting and interesting to explore.

The movie picks up after Civil War with T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, mourning the death of his father and about to take up the mantle of both king of Wakanda and the Black Panther.
However, T’Challa faces problems from arms dealer Ulysses Klaue, played by Andy Serkis, and the mysterious Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan.
This story is made all the better by the great cast, who portray really fantastic characters.
Boseman is very likeable as T’Challa and he is a great contrast to Killmonger, the film’s main villain.
Then there is Serkis’ Klaue who you can see Serkis had fun with because of how crazy he seems.
The best minor character in the film is definitely T’Challa’s sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, because of how energetic and likeable she is.
Finally, Killmonger almost steals the movie.
Jordan gives a great performance as Killmonger who is one of the best villains the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever had.
It really does seem like the MCU is improving its track record with villains, as you can tell with Vulture from Spiderman: Homecoming and now Killmonger.
Killmonger is a great villain because, even though he is clearly evil, you understand why he is doing these bad things and you sympathize with him because of these reasons.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a great contrast between Killmonger and T’Challa that really helps to emphasize the movie’s themes, which centers around the moral ambiguity of running a country that is deliberately cut off from the rest of the world.
But this movie is not perfect, there are a couple of flaws.
For one, the CGI just did not work at times.
During the final fight between T’Challa and Killmonger it was hard to get into because of how the CGI was implemented.
My final problem with the movie is Daniel Kaluuya’s character, W’Kabi.
Kaluuya gives a great performance, like everyone else, but his character is very inconsistent.
Halfway through the movie W’Kabi does a complete turn around out of nowhere.
If you compare his character from the first half to the second half of the movie he is completely different, even though he has experienced no character growth.
Overall though, Black Panther was a great film, despite its minor problems.
It has an investing story and great characters, one of which, you could even say, was Wakanda.

Shadow of The Colossus: not a masterpiece but a really fun game.

I first heard of Shadow of The Colossus about a year ago on a top 10 list.
I had never heard of this game before then and I had no idea people considered it to be a masterpiece.
So, when I heard about it, I was disappointed that I had never played it and probably never would, due to me getting get rid of my PlayStation 3.
Imagine my excitement then when I heard that Shadow of The Colossus was being remade for the PlayStation 4.
So, I made sure to buy it when it came out to see if it was the masterpiece everyone said it was and, I have got to say, Shadow of The Colossus is a really good game.
It starts off with the playable character Wander traveling to the forbidden land, on his horse Agro, to try and bring the woman called Mono back to life.
Wander speaks with the entity known as Dormin, who promises to bring Mono back to life if Wander kills all the 16 Colossi that roam the Forbidden Land and so our journey begins.

Wander travels the forbidden land on his trusty (if somewhat annoying) horse Agro.

Shadow of The Colossus is pretty simple from that point forward, with you having to go and slay all the Colossi one at a time.
Other than the Colossi there are no other enemies in the game but each one of them makes up for the lack of enemies.
Fighting these giants almost never stops being epic as you take on opponents 100 times your size.
What also makes the Colossi so fun to fight is that every one of them has a gimmick to defeating them so you will need to change tactics for every Colossi.
Because of this the game always feels fresh.
On top of that, some of the Colossus fights are the best boss fights in gaming.
Colossi like Avion, Dirge and Phalanx were incredibly fun to fight, especially Avion, which was such an interactive boss fight.

Avion, the fifth Colossus, is my favourite boss fight of the game.

The game also looks beautiful.
Looking at how the game looked previously on YouTube really shows how well they have improved the graphics.
However, even though this game had many fantastic bosses, along with a good story, does that make Shadow of The Colossus the masterpiece everyone says it is?
Honestly, I do not think so.
I certainly enjoyed Shadow of The Colossus but, for me, there are too many technical issues to call this game a masterpiece.
For one, the camera used in this game is one of the worst I have seen.
I was constantly fighting the camera so I could see what was happening and this resulted in me falling off many of the Colossi.
Then there is Agro, who was very annoying to control at times, stopping when coming across a small rock or not doing what I told him to.
Finally, there are the Colossi themselves.
While many are fantastic, some are overly frustrating and downright unfair.
The perfect examples of this are Celosia and Cenobia, two of the worst Colossi in the entire game.
Both are small for Colossi and have pretty unoriginal designs so fighting them is not as interesting as other Colossi, but that is not the problem.
The problem is how unfair they are as bosses, with their charge attack.
If you are hit head on with this attack then you are screwed because both Celosia and Cenobia will give you no time to get back up and constantly ram you until you are dead.
If you are hit once by this, it is almost impossible to dodge their oncoming attacks, making the fight overly frustrating and just not fun.

But (even though Colossi like Celosia and Cenobia were not fun to fight because of how unfair they were) there were still more fun Colossi than not.
So, while I think Shadow of The Colossus may not be the masterpiece a lot of people claim it to be, it is still a lot of fun and you should definitely check it out.