Mini Review - Battleship

Well, this is a thing that exists

Yes, Hollywood really ran out of ideas in 2012, and really hasn’t been recovering that well but someone decided to make a movie based on a board game. Universal to be precise, along with really, Hasbro has a movie division now? Actually, they’ve had one for years and have used it to release Transformers, My Little Pony etc.

But still, a movie based on a board game. Unsurprisingly, it was a disaster with a gargantuan $220m budget, it only made $300m at the box office, resulting in a loss for all parties involved. Critically, it was not a hit either, with a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 4.6/10 and an audience score of 54%

Well, here we go.

#50 - Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

It’s been a while since I did a rage review on a game, mostly because of the time investment. Before I’ve gotten around it by watching the plot on the laptop and doing the rest from memory but I assure you I have played this game recently. The sacrifices I make for you…

So, the big 3 star-duos of the Playstation 2 era are Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter and Sly and Bentley, but the only one of the 3 to find much success in the post-PS2 era was Ratchet and Clank. Sly and Bentley did have a PS3 release in Thieves in time but that’s outside of HD remasters, it’s the only PS3 title with just them, with Jak and Daxter, their only PS3 release they star in outside of HD remasters is

  

Oh, my first nemesis. It sucked. Also, they were in that brawl game Battle Royale, doesn’t really count though.

But there was always the PSP, Sony’s handheld console, Jak and Daxter found success with the Daxter title, which is a solid game but then we have the dark sheep of the Jak and Daxter series. This is Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

Released to surprising critical acclaim, this was the product of High Impact Games, the guys who made Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank, so good hands! This was their last big-name title before they fell and decided to only make garbage and mobile games.

Yeah, sure that one was a hit…

Naughty Dog, the original Jak and Daxter team had a few plot ideas from drafts they were doing for Jak IV, but with the PS3 on the horizon and a team working on Uncharted it was decided to ditch it and work on a racing game instead, Jak X: Combat Racing, a surprisingly solid racing game that’s getting a PS4 remaster. So, let’s see how High Impact destroyed it as we take a look.

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 Part 1 - The Nightmare Man/The Vault of Secrets

It’s been a while but we’re back, and looking at the 4^th series of the Sarah Jane Adventures and the final full season of the show.  Series 5 was sadly cut short thanks to the passing of Elizabeth Sladen. And we’ll get to some ideas for the show that were ultimately cut later, but for now, let’s get straight in with The Nightmare Man

Editorial - What I want to see in Star Wars Rebels season 4

2 years ago, I did an editorial on what I wanted to see in Star Wars Rebels season 2

I didn't do one for s3 owing to lack of time, but I am going to do one now

Guilty Pleasures #40 - Kingsman: The Secret Service

I’m doing it because the sequel’s coming out, sue me

Kingsman: The Secret Service released in 2014 to somewhat mixed reviews but a decent profit, making $400m on a $90m budget. But screw what other people think, I love this movie! But that doesn’t mean I can’t try and analyse it and be nitpicky, let’s dive in

Sequel Baiting #3: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief vs Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson has had a tough go in movies, a failed attempt at a 5-movie franchise adapting the popular novels by Rick Riordan. And when I say 'adapting' I mean in the loosest possible fashion. The first movie changes some major elements from the first book. With the second, I wonder if the writers had only flicked through the book before throwing it away and working on their script. But this is not a review that will rank these movies as adaptations, I myself have only read Wikipedia summaries of the plot. Both movies had a similar mixed reception, and made a similar amount of money about $220m, but the second one had a higher budget so it was seen as disappointing. I have seen both of these movies and here are my thoughts.

Mini Review - Paycheck

Like a lot of mini reviews of late I’m going into this one without having watched it before. But there are things to point out. We have Ben Affleck, famous for playing killer versions of non-killer superheroes (Batman and Daredevil), Uma Therman, Poison Ivy from Batman and Robin and directed by Jon Woo, director of the worst of the Mission Impossible movies. Let’s take a look at Paycheck.

Released in 2003 to poor reviews (27% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 4.7/10) Paycheck made $93m on a $60m budget, taking off theatre’s cuts the film likely didn’t make its money back. Here’s my thoughts as to why.