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johngshen
Reviews
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
HONEST MOVIE REVIEWS: Part 2: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
10/10 Stars - Work of art, quite literally best animated film of all time
Oh my god. This movie kills anything Pixar has made since Ratatouille. This movie feels like an action saga crammed into an hour and fifty minutes. It has everything an animated movie should have, character development, villains, and something like four sub-plots. It also has what I think are two of the greatest animated villains of all time, Big Jack Horner and Death itself. My list is dominated by Dreamworks:
1. Death
2. Lord Shen
3. Grimmel the Grisly
4. Tai Lung
5. Big Jack Horner
Everything works on so many levels. This movie is truly fantastic. Kitty, Puss himself, even the new deuteragonist Perrito all work well, along with a great "broken" villain Goldilocks, our pure evil villain Big Jack Horner and the overarching antagonist (the "big bad") with Death. The animation style is also nothing to scoff at, with the low FPS fights being incredibly enjoyable as well.
Conclusion: Pixar, step up your game. Even so, I doubt you have much of a chance.
Dune (2021)
HONEST MOVIE REVIEWS Part 1: Dune
This is how I'll be grading them:
9-10: Masterpiece. Stunning, completely unforgettable.
7-8: Great movie, probably one of the best in the year.
5-6: Alright, but not amazing or spectacular.
3-4: A bit of a mess
1-2: Disgusting, horrific, should never be shown again
5.5/10
Okay. I was able to watch this movie in IMAX and I can't say I was super disappointed. That said, my expectations were kind of low. My biggest gripe with this review is that it straight up DIED in the second act. The start had a good amount of potential with the start, as House Harkonnen destroys House Atreides base. But after that, the movie became a slow, sluggish crawl to the end as we are forced to watch Paul talk to the Fremen for the rest of the movie. After the Coriolis Storm, I can't recall a single actual action scene. If you want my pick for greatest sci-fi movies in the last ten years, it would be Zack Snyder's Justice League and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Conclusion: Not bad, but not awesome. Watch Rogue One or ZSJL, don't bother with this one.
Fortnite (2017)
Disgusting, but fun
TLDR: I hate to say this with every fiber of my body, but it's the best battle royale of 2023/2024.
Pros:
*Solid deal for being free
*High skill cap
*Collabs are cool
*Interesting gun spread
*Nigh-unlimited game modes for infinite replayability
*Creative/UEFN allows for you to make your own game
Cons:
*Questionable art style
*Negative realism
*Chapter 5 Season 1 was disappointing at best
*Weapon modding system is not fleshed out
*Not enough 1st person modes
*Half of the game modes are a low-effort mess
*New weapons being hideously OP when added
*Mythics being too common
*Shame that the Exotics from Chapter 2/3 are gone
*Helios (the Chapter 5 map) is boring
Conclusion: A classic case of "It is What It Is." A disgusting, horrible game, but still the best of the year because everything else sucks more.
Subnautica (2018)
Subnautica: PTSD with a side of thalassophobia
TLDR: Don't play if you're a weenie that's easily scared of horror games, but do play if you want a nice exploration game
Pros:
- Really cool creature design
- Massive map that takes a lot of time to fully explore
- Atmospheric horror is very well done
- Game does take quite long to beat
- Extensively mapped out lore
- Good, simplistic mechanics
- Flexible gameplay
- Leviathans are awesome
Cons:
- Can be a bit too scary in certain aspects (Inactive Lava Zone, Void, Back of Aurora)
- Incredibly glitchy (constant bugging with animal models)
- Lack of updates due to support being relocated to Below Zero
- Plot, story and how to beat the game can be difficult for newbies
Conclusion: Solid game for what it is, would recommend for fans of other open world games such as RDR2, GTA or Skyrim.
Battlefield 1 (2016)
The Perfect Atmosphere for a Perfect Game
TLDR: I would recommend BF4 for more hardcore players, but for a more populated and casual experience BF1 will do.
Pros:
- Great atmosphere. Best immersiveness and atmosphere of any game (tied with RDR2)
- Good campaign that really brings you into the war
- Satisfying, clean gunplay
- Excellent weapon balancing
- Elite kits
- Behemoths are awesome, really put up the levolutions from BF4
- Insanely populated, tons of servers available
- Vehicle gameplay is some of the best in the series
Cons:
- Can be overly campy with the artillery truck and one shot snipers
- It's a shame custom servers are now gone
- Campaign isn't that long, but it's not the focus so it isn't really a big deal
- Questionable progression with shortcut kits
Conclusion: Buy it, you'll have a great time. Buy BF4 if you want to really stick with a game.
Battlefield 4 (2013)
It was perfect. PERFECT, everything. Down to the last minute detail.
TLDR: The greatest FPS game of all time and worth every penny of your money. (Go cry about it BO2 fanboys)
In Depth:
Pros:
- Levolutions, amazing events that change the map in an instant
- Great dynamic gameplay with awesome flow
- Some of the best weapon selection and modding in FPS history
- Consistent and kind player base (you'll always have servers)
- Good graphics for the time, still holds up well
- DLCs are reasonably priced and worth it
- Weapon balancing is solid
- No SBMM, so there's less sweaty players
- Campaign can be tedious and slightly boring in certain places
- Kills aren't as satisfying as BF1 (I know, big nitpick)
Conclusion: Just buy it, you'll love it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023)
Oh my god bro, oh HECK NO
TLDR: Fortnite is just better. Just go with that if you want a half decent game with a battle royale attached.
In Depth:
Pros:
- Cool graphics. Better than MW2022 but it's no Battlefield game.
- Gun models. They seemed to have put in some detail, and that's cool I guess
Cons:
- SBMM. Enough said.
- Boring, dull, uninteresting campaign
- Disgusting microtransactions
- Pay to Win Bundles
- Horrific atmosphere with anime skins
- Overly convoluted gun modding system
- Soap's death felt like cheap shock value
- Makarov as a villain sucked, OG Makarov was better
- The new No Russian is boring
- Most importantly, revoltingly overpriced (70 dollars for a DLC)
- Urzikstan as a Warzone map has bad flow and pacing
Conclusion: Buy Fortnite, you'll enjoy it more, and it's free.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
This Movie Sucks
Honestly, JJ Abrams, what were you thinking? This movie is an utter disappointment and a desecration of the great legacy Star Wars created. Rey just isn't a likable character, the movie is riddled with more plot holes that I can count, and Palpatine's return wasn't explained enough. I gave it a 3 because at least the CGI was cool in the final act, despite it being dumb and not making much sense. Don't bother with this one. If you want a half decent Star Wars movie, just watch the prequels or Rogue One or the OG Trilogy. Disney should have just used the Yuuzhan Vong or the Dark Empire for this storyline, and it would be so much better. The Battle of Coruscant in Legends is better than Exegol, ad infinitum.
Update: Dune Part Two came out, and oh man is it infinitely better than this. LOTR, Dune, and the Original Trilogy are really what filmmaking is about. Not this abomination.
Summary: "Somehow Palpatine ret-' SHUT UP POE, NO ONE CARES!
Rating: 3/10
Grade: D-
Godzilla (1998)
Roland Emmerich - WHAT THE HECK IS THIS??
Roland Emmerich, if you're reading this, it's Judgement Day for you. The camera angles are shaky and weird, the whole movie is kinda droopy, and I've seen better human scenes in Godzilla (2014). There are many problems with this film, but I'll simply go to by far my biggest problem.
This Godzilla's design is a straight sin and insult to the legacy left behind by the Heisei Era of films. His posture is oddly dinosaur like, which seems like they're trying to make this Godzilla compete with the excellent Jurassic Park (1993). He also has no atomic breath, and got blown to bits by a precision airstrike by the US Air Force. Instead of having scenes of Godzilla trashing the army's tanks and planes and making them look like idiots, instead we see this glob of crap running away and trying to lay eggs in the river. Whatever. This wouldn't be a problem if this was a original movie, but this concept cannot be tied to the Godzilla franchise. Godzilla has "god" in his name. We LIKE watching him destroying the city while fighting monsters such as Destoroyah, Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla. Rolandzilla also seems to have no main antagonist in the sense. Sure, Jean Reno's character seems like he could be an antagonist in the first half or so, but we don't have a conclusive, truly evil monster or even human in this film.
Roland, if you were trying to make a different type of Godzilla movie, it might work, but I think Godzilla movies in the very least need to have an antagonist and have a solid design.