Rebel Galaxy

Rebel Galaxy

In my never ending search to replace the hole left in my heart after they cancelled Firefly I have turned to games. Earlier this year I was playing EVE Online and would have thoroughly enjoyed it had it not been so much work vs escapism/fantasy. While I still hold hope that some day the Firefly Online Video game will be released, it has become necessary to fill in the gaps in the meantime. And thus I started playing this new game Rebel Galaxy.  Rebel Galaxy is the PVE Eve Online really lacks. While Eve Online does offer some PVE content it's just not all that good. EVE is strongest in PVP and it's use of Scifi themes. Rebel Galaxy is light. No heavy number crunching or resource management required on your part. You just go. Rebel Galaxy is that quick quest you run before going to lunch or that quick 30-45 minutes you spend at night running a delivery of Narco Cola.

It's just fun. 

Some of the mechanics needs to be worked out and the user interface feels a little rough but those are minor issues you'd expect to be cleaned up in future updates Now why is it compared to Firefly? After all you don't have a crew and there is a whole lot of ship to ship combat.  Firefly's crew is the main story line and ship to ship combat only occurred briefly in Serenity. Rebel Galaxy gets it's Firefly feel from the background music. It's kick ass. And comes in at the perfect time in a mission. Then there are the simple cargo missions. From the highly illegal contraband to the perfectly legitimate jobs hauling cargo for the Alliance. You can do a little mining or a little illegal salvage. All good. You can join a faction or just roam free. Moving further from the arm of the Alliance as they get closer. Those are the similarities to Firefly. Hopefully future updates will add a crew component and some planet side action. For now it's the best we have while waiting for Firefly Online to become available.

I picked up the game for $20 from STEAM but it's also available on GOG. For a buy once play forever PVE version of EVE this puppy is worth the entertainment dollars.

Tremors 5: Bloodlines, Good Basic B-Movie Monster Film Fun

!!!TREMORS Out Of Africa!!!
First a quick disclaimer. I'm a big fan of the franchise. The original of this series belongs in watch lists alongside its contemporaries like Big Trouble In Little China, Army of Darkness, Bubba Ho-tep and other classic monster flicks. I'm also a fan of the survivalist archetype portrayed by Burt Gummer (Michael Gross). The original series must have had great consultants because everything in Burt Gummers life was spot on.

Tremors 5: Bloodlines follows the formula of the first 3 films and doesn't disappoint. We have mysterious attacks plaguing a village, identification of the monster, and a call for help from a specialist as the locals try their best to deal with the problem. The specialist (Burt Gummer) then gets paired up with an "assistant", Travis Welker (Jaime Kennedy), that plays the comedy relief to Burt's straight/serious man role. The monster throws in a few surprises unknown to poor Burt who really requires all Critical Need To Know Information to do his job properly and safely. The final battle ends with the least expected method of destroying the threat. Proving Burt Gummer is a survivalist that  knows the true weapon is his mind not his guns.  This time around the creators also payed homage to other films and pop culture such as Tomb Raider and Jurassic Park. I'm sure there are many more for viewers to find.

Graboids and their kin are not easily exterminated. Our poor villagers and heroes have had to employ various unique techniques in the past to eliminate the graboid threat. We've seen the following;

1. Driving them off a cliff with percussion grenades.
2. Shooting them with everything from Lever Action 30-30s to 50 BMG Guns.
3. Getting them to swallow a slow fuse pipe bomb.
4. Flaming arrow up the back side to ignite the AssBlasters fuel stores.
5. Getting them to swallow a remote control toy truck with a remotely detonated C4 bomb.
6. Having them chase you till they run into an underground barrier.

This time around the method used is unique to Africa. I wouldn't say it can be employed with repeatable results but when fighting Graboids you need to know your environment and use all the tools at your disposal.

The final verdict? Go ahead watch it and enjoy. It's on Netflix so if you're already a subscriber you wont be incurring additional expense. For the fan the Blu-ray is available now.

Daredevil (Damn that's some great writing)

Daredevil
Netflix and Marvel have done well by making the writing the most important part of this series. Gritty, raw, and with a realism that mirrors today's world. While there are special effects they are used sparingly to tell the story. The fight choreography is amazing. The combatants even stop to take a breath during battle. These moments of silence add to the suspense of the scene. Then on top of all this they add to the story by debating the morality and philosophy of the actions taken by Daredevil. And we're not talking about basic Hollywood anti-gun stupidity, although some of that is there, but of the difference between taking a life because you have to or want to.
Watch it. I warn you though it's a binge series. Once you start you may not stop till you reach the end.

Pixels The Movie - Fun Film For A Narrow Age Group

While PIXELS is an entertaining film this is not high brow theatre. Nor should it ever be judged thus. The jokes will provide chuckles, some because they are humorous others because they are inappropriate and truly bad. The reason I consider this movie fun for a narrow age group is because the 40+ age group will love the nostalgia. They'll also understand the majority of 80's references and jokes. It has your basic boiler plate list of characters like Ghost Busters, Evolution, and every 80's teen film produced.  From the "loser" to misunderstood genius. The effects are extremely well done and the music score is chock full of late 70's and 80's top hits. However they could have done a better job of integrating video game audio into the film. 

So generally speaking is it worth spending the $ to see this at the cinema? Sure go ahead, more so if you're an 80's child.  Maybe not if you feel the references will be missed. Worth renting or wait for Netflix? Definitely.

Now I have to address some of the reviews made by the pseudo intellectuals that consider themselves the "intelligentsia" these days. Generally speaking they have all ranked this film lest than 4 out of 10 or 2 stars out if 5. In other words below average and not worth watching. Their reasoning is greatly flawed and in many cases borderline political or full of Social Justice Warrior (SJW) outrage.  We get reviewers complaining that the End Of The World Alien Attack theme is not properly depicted as critical and urgent in nature. As if this "comedy" was Independence Day. The SJW's complain that the female "love" interest is little more than a cheerleader. Showing us once more that SJW's can only see their agenda and internal bias wherever they look. The fact that the female was a high ranking officer in the Air Force, that she invented the tech to destroy the aliens, and that she was essentially a working single mom while doing all this seems to mean nothing to the SJW crowd. Then they go as far as claiming it's Gamer Gate depicted on film. As if Gamer Gate has anything to do with depicting women in demeaning stereotypical roles in video games and entertainment.  I guess they would prefer her to be the dumb jock or the "loser" who's claim to fame is being world Donkey Kong champ. But as we all know they would find offense with that too. Don't let the perpetually offended stop you from seeing this film.

Mad Max - Fury Road

Worth watching at the cinema?
Only if you're a big fan of the original series. A mix of the first 3 movies this version has the same cast of clowns/characters and philosophy that you'll find in the originals. However the originals were raw and somewhat disturbing. This was toned down with obligatory CGI violating all laws of physics and biology added in to make the film pretty. I'll ignore all the plot problems because nowadays screen writers don't seem to care about the story or logic. This is Hollywood after all, where feelings and promoting socialist ideology trumps logic and common sense every time. The actors did very well. So if you're more of a fan of their performances then go see it. They don't disappoint.
Many on twitter and other social networks are claiming this film a feminist triumph. It's nothing of the sort. It does portray a matriarchy group but they are just as vicious and against individual rights as their male warlord counterparts.
Overall it's enjoyable, not great, but you won't walk out in the middle of the film. You'll just feel like maybe you could have used your time more productively. So watch it if you're a fan or just want a quick dystopian future fix. The Screen Junkies Honest Trailer is gonna be harsh.