Ms. Marvel – Episode 2: Crushed – Review

Posted on June 16, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Meera Menon

Writer: Kate Gritmon

Starring: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Laurel Marsden, Azhar Usman

Rating: ★★★★

The second episode of Ms. Marvel shows Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) getting to grips with the powers that she discovered at the end of the first episode, and at the same time keeping them a secret from her classmates and family.

Everything about this show is completely charming and immediately engaging. There’s a visual flair that feels like it’s stepped right out of a comic book, and it simply looks perfect. Also, Kamala’s family is presented in a really realistic and relatable way, with some really strong writing for the characters. Both sides of the show, the family drama and the superhero story, work really well and we’re just beginning to see how interwoven they are.

The first episode left a lot of questions with what Kamala’s powers are and where they came from, but there’s not a whole lot of answers here. Instead, we get to see more of what she’s capable of, but the answers are only just getting uncovered. To do so, Kamala is also going into her own family’s history, which is slowly being revealed.

After finding out that she has powers, Kamala returns to her life at school with a much more confidence. Her entrance to the school halls is repeated from the first episode but this time around Kamala moves around with much more ease, she’s not scared to push past the people leaning on her locker or speak to the people around her. She’s much more present and people take notice of her, at least until she finds Zoe (Laurel Marsden) bragging about what happened at AvengerCon. At home, the repercussions of Kamala sneaking out is still felt, with her mum not fully trusting her but at the same time letting her go out to a friend’s house.

There’s also some interesting friendship dynamics between Kamala and her best friend Bruno (Matt Lintz). In the previous episode they were seen as almost inseparable, but with the appearance of Kamran (Rish Shah), who Kamala instantly has a crush on, Bruno is side-lined even though he’s having to make important life decisions for himself. You can see the friendship starting to strain, and will probably have a bigger impact later, especially after the teasing cliffhanger ending to this episode.

Ms. Marvel perfectly balances a coming-of-age story with a more typical MCU story. Seeing Kamala navigate growing up is just as entertaining as watching her learn about her superpowers, and it looks like both of those strands are interwoven with a lot of secrets to be uncovered in future episodes. Filled with stylish comic-book flair, Ms. Marvel is easily one of the best superhero TV shows of recent years.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi – Episode Five Review

Posted on June 15, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Deborah Chow

Writers: Joby Harold and Andrew Stanton

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Moses Ingram, Vivian Lyra Blair, Indira Varma, Kumail Nanjiani, and James Earl Jones

Rating: ★★★★½

The fourth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi was a bit of a dud, with not much really happening and in all honesty it felt a little bit like filler. Episode five brings the series right back on track, and is maybe even the best episode of the series so far. There are revelations, some moments of great fan service, and at the same time it also sets up what will hopefully be a memorable and fantastic finale to the series.

Essentially the whole episode is a siege, with the Third Sister, Vader and an army of stormtroopers attempting to get to Obi-Wan. It’s almost a small-scale version of the battle of Crait from The Last Jedi, with a few other similarities to that film as well. Intersected throughout is flashbacks to Anakin and Obi-Wan sparring each other. Finally Hayden Christensen is fully back as Anakin outside of Vader’s suit. The flashbacks compliment the present storyline, reminding us of who Anakin is and how Obi-Wan knows all of his weaknesses and how to exploit them. We also get some confirmation on the Third Sister’s past, which is good to see.

There’s been a lot of speculation online to what the Third Sister’s motivation and past is, and we finally get some revelations about that, both obvious and more shocking. Due to her actions in the fourth episode, she is now promoted by Vader to Grand Inquisitor, fulfilling her wishes of being by Vader’s side, as she leads the assault to capture Obi-Wan.

Most of the episode is full-on fighting and shoot outs, with the stormtroopers showing yet again that they will miss more shots than they make as they try to fight their way in. It is a little awkward how close-quarters the shoot-out is, and barely anyone gets hit, but that’s just Star Wars all over. The duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan is great, with some flashy moves. It’s just great to see them both back on screen together at the same time. There’s also another duel later on, with Vader showing his full powers which is fantastic, similar to Luke vs. Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. Like father like son.

The penultimate episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi is a real step-up from the previous episode. With full-on lightsaber duels, Vader showing his powers, and secrets from the past finally being revealed. Hopefully the last episode is just as fantastic.  

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Kaiju No. 8 – Volume 2 – Manga Review

Posted on June 14, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

The second volume of Naoya Matsumoto’s Kaiju No. 8 continues the story of Kafka Hibino as he attempts to join his childhood friend in the Japanese Defence Force. The first volume ends with Kafka and his new friend Leno Ichikawa in the middle of their test to join the Force. Kafka has a secret, he can transform into a Kaiju, which he does to save one of the other people at the test.

After the first volume, that really felt like the start of something great, this volume is a massive let down. Kafka is rejected after the trial, but is then given the opportunity to enter the Force as a cadet instead, with a three month window where he needs to prove himself or he’s out. Even early on it seems pretty obvious what will happen now.

There are quite a few characters in the story, but they’re not really that unique of memorable. A lot of them are just the standard characters that you need to be there. The odd and quirky teacher, the overachiever who the main character will need to outdo at some point, the side-kick, they’re all there. There are a few other characters in the mix as well, but it’s really the main two characters and Kafka’s childhood friend, Mina Ashiro that stand out so far. Some of the characters look similar as well, so sometimes it makes you double take to make sure you know who said what.

The story so far, throughout the first two volumes, has been good but there hasn’t been anything that mind-blowing just yet. It’s a pretty standard story of someone following their dreams and follows a few school tropes. It reminds me a little of Attack on Titan at points, for obvious reasons, but I’m still waiting for the big moment that’s going to make me want to jump into the next chapter straight away.

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The Quarry – Game Review

Posted on June 13, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

The Quarry from Supermassive Games is a horror game that feels like a 1980s slasher flick. It’s a spiritual successor to Until Dawn and is essentially an interactive movie where you watch a series of cut-scenes and make decisions for each character, with the possibility of everyone or no-one surviving the story. Like Until Dawn there are plenty of choices and story paths, with a reported 186 potential endings to the game.

The game follows a group of camp councillors at the end of camp, when all the children have gone home. After their van breaks down the councillors are forced to spend one more night at the site, with many protests from the owner Mr Hackett (played by David Arquette). They ignore the warnings to stay inside and instead have a final night party, and end up stumbling into a full-on horror story with monsters in the woods as well as hunters who seem to be looking for them.

The story is broken into ten chapters, as well as a prologue and an epilogue. After the creepy opening there’s a couple of chapters just getting to know the characters with hints of what’s about to come. You get to mould the characters through the interactions and really get to know who they are. There are also some choices you make that can affect you later in the game, massively, even if you don’t see it at first. One of the best things about the game is seeing how something pays off a few hours after you make the initial decision.

All of the characters are completely likeable, which makes it hit that much harder when you make a bad choice and one of them dies. There’s not always a lot of warning for what can kill you and some of them are really shocking. Going for a playthrough where no-one dies can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you make one mistake and someone dies meaning you have to replay a few hours before you get back there. It’s also fun to go the other way and see how many mistakes you can make and how quickly you can kill them off. There’s a lot of replay value in the game to find the different paths you can take.

Just like in Until Dawn, The Quarry has an all-star cast. Featuring Ted Raimi, Ariel Winter, Justice Smith, and David Arquette, just to name a few. Graphically the game is brilliant. Apart from a few awkward moments everything looks great. The setting of the summer camp looks incredible and it’s very easy to become fully immersed in the story.

When you finish it the first time, it gives you the option to go back and play again with the ability to rewind (up to 3 times) when someone dies, to give you a better chance at surviving. You also have the option to start the game again from any of the chapters, to make a different choice at a certain point without having to mimic your previous playthrough. Sadly, the collectibles don’t carry over to the next playthrough so it’s not possible to get them all at the same time. Maybe a patch will fix that at some point.

Frustratingly there are a few choices you make that don’t have as big of an impact as you’d think they would. When you play the game again and make completely different choices sometimes it leads to the same outcome. And then at other points you can do something subtly different and it changes everything. There’s a moment early on when Emma asks for Abi to take the scene route, if you do then in the next scene she is nicer to Emma, and if you don’t she’s a little spiteful about it. Stuff like that is absolutely great, it would just be nicer for all the decisions to have a fuller impact.

Another thing that makes replaying the game feel very off-putting is that you can’t skip any of the dialogue or scenes, even ones that you don’t really have any input into, so they will be the same every time. It would also be nice if you could run a little quicker during some of the walking sections. When you just want to see how a choice impacts the story, you want to get back to that point as quickly as possible. Saying that, it’s completely understandable why there isn’t an option to speed things up. You could easily miss out on things. Thankfully, it doesn’t get tedious, even when going through the same scenes as you can look for the slight differences from last time when you say something slightly different.

The Quarry is another excellent game from Supermassive Games. It’s a throwback to the slasher era, with plenty of throwbacks and references. The characters are excellent and it’s easy to become completely absorbed in it. While there are some irritations, the strengths completely outweigh them, and the second one playthrough ends you’ll want to start another one straight away.

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The Orville: New Horrizons – Episode 2 – Shadow Realms – Review

Posted on June 12, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Jon Cassar

Writer: Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga, André Bormanis

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Jessica Szohr, J. Lee, Mark Jackson, Anne Winters

Rating: ★★★

Last week’s opening episode of the third season of The Orville was absolutely brilliant, it was a welcome return for the show with a strong story, great character moments and a darker tone than before. The second episode of the season is a lot weaker, feeling like a typical ‘monster-of-the-week’ that could have been from any of the previous seasons. It’s a decent episode but does feel like a let-down considering how great last week’s episode was and how short this season is going to be.

In this episode, Shadow Realms, The Orville is chosen to help with negotiations with the Krill. Admiral Christie (James Read) joins the crew in order to lead the talks, while at the same time reconnect with his Claire (Penny Johnson Jerald), who he hasn’t spoken to in almost twenty-five years.

After the negotiations go well the ship is given permission to explore areas of space previously out of reach, and while doing so they pick up a distress call from a space station. From that point on the episode becomes pretty much the plot to the original Alien film. The crew go to the distress signal, find the station uninhabited, but an egg-thing on the wall opens up and infects Admiral Christie, who brings back an alien lifeform back to the ship without realising. He then slowly transforms into a spider-like alien and starts to attack and hunt down the rest of the crew. The Alien references aren’t exactly subtle, and it still works. The design of the creature is pretty good and looks creepy, even if the episode is never close to being scary.

Claire is one of the main focuses for this episode, with some revelations about her past. Claire is one of the better characters of the show, so it’s always good to see more of her. Talla (Jessica Szohr) also gets a good fight sequence with one of the creatures that attacks the ship. Hopefully some of the later episodes will give more time to Bortus (Peter Macon) and Lt. Malloy (Scott Grimes), who have taken a back-seat so far this season for the most part.

The big thing about the opening episode is how everyone distrusted Isaac (Mark Jackson) after the events of the previous season, to the point that even his closest friends seemed to have turned on him. There’s a moment when Lt. Malloy, someone who seemed to be close to Isaac, voiced his growing dislike towards him to a crewmate, but this isn’t build upon at all this week. Isaac is just one of the crew, and any ill feelings towards him seem to have been completely forgotten.

Shadow Realms is a decent episode of The Orville, but fat from the best. It’s a riff on Alien and does a decent job of that. There’s a few laughs, and it’s never dull, but let’s hope the rest of the season is a lot better.  

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