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jeffnkimsmith
Reviews
Rockman X4 (1997)
I really love this game...
As if I'm the only one who thinks so, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is my favorite Megaman X game, or any Megaman game. Back when I actually owned a PS1, I played it all the time. As has been stated, the game revolves mostly around Zero's plot line. Therefore, I shall run down said story.
MASSIVE SPOILERS ENSUE.
The game begins with Zero getting a call to the Sky Lagoon, where Magma Dragoon, a former Maverick Hunter turned traitor, has sent it crashing toward the ground, killing thousands of innocent people, to Zero's horror.
After he destroys Dragoon's lead maverick, he's confronted by his old friend Colonel, the second-in-command of the Repliforce, a Reploid army that is held in suspicion for the attack. Colonel denies the charges and declares war on the Maverick Hunters for their supposedly false charges.
The war begins, and Zero and X fight a number of battles against the Repliforce commanders, including the traitor Dragoon. Meanwhile, Zero has to juggle fighting in the war and his love affair with a girl named Iris, made more complicated by the fact that she's Colonel's sister, and desperately tries to stop her lover and her brother from fighting.
Needless to say, she fails, and the ensuing drama causes many bad feelings for Zero and, in many cases, the player.
The entire drama of Zero getting his personal affairs mixed up with his business is beautifully executed, if more than a bit sad. What I thought was interesting was that one of the 8 any-order-you-choose bosses was a supporting character, in actuality responsible for the entire plot.
It was wonderfully executed, to say the least, and I'd play it again if I ever got the chance.
The Jungle Book (1994)
Pretty good movie, I enjoyed it.
***These are the spoilers***
What an interesting piece of film here. Alright, well, I'll give my two cents here. It starts out with Mowgli, a young Indian boy, bonding with a young British girl named Catherine, who, like he, lost her mother when she was a baby. Things go wrong and Mowgli's father is mauled by a tiger, Mowgli himself being cast into and lost in the jungle. He bonds with the animals and loses himself to it, effectively becoming a savage, and donning a loincloth to boot.
Years later, he finds a hidden city in the jungle and a massive treasure. But when he tries to get back Catherine's bracelet, he is attacked by a huge snake. After a desperate and losing struggle, he barely escapes the vicious reptile with his life and the bracelet. The next day, we see Catherine, who has developed into a beautiful and intelligent young woman, opposite Mowgli's cumbersome and illiterate character. They meet and Catherine flees into the arms of her fiancé, Captain William Boone, who, along with his friends, proceeds to fight Mowgli, which results in Mowgli being shot in the arm.
Mowgli tries to meet Catherine in the British fort, but he is beaten down and captured. Over the rest of the course of the film, Catherine, her doctor, and her father attempt to teach Mowgli to read and speak proper English, which they succeed in to some degree. But ultimately, the jungle boy answers the 'call of the wild' and returns, but Boone wants the treasure he found. Along with his buddies, William tracks down Mowgli and forces him to lead him to the treasure. Once there, he attempts to kill Mowgli, and nearly kills the savage, but is killed by the same snake that attacked Mowgli earlier. Mowgli and Catherine fall in love, the end.
***Spoilers end here***
Very interesting. There were some things about it that are obviously intended for older audiences. Throughout most of the movie, Mowgli wears nothing more than a loincloth, rendering him effectively naked for the majority of the movie, while his enemies wear full clothing. Obviously not intended for kids. In one sequence, he is seen fighting a large (and fully clothed) man atop a cliff, nearly being beaten off the edge. I even wonder if there wasn't some grounds for a racist argument in there. In the final sequence, Mowgli (a naked Indian man) was attacked by William (a fully-clothed British man), and stumbled clumsily around to avoid William's deadly swordplay. I won't point fingers, but it's there.
Anyway, good movie, if you like watching naked people get shot at and beaten around by not-naked people. Nah, it's a good film, and you should watch it if you're over 9, I would say. 8 out of 10.
The Trumpet of the Swan (2001)
Great movie, way under-appreciated
I love this film, short and simple. Of course, there were obvious flaws, most of them relating to variations away from the book. But, as I understand, most people who watched it only watched it because of the book, in which case it would be, for most, a disappointment. Not me. The animation needed a degree of work, but that is always the hardest part of one of these films. While I will be flamed for saying so, I think this was a well-done movie.
The story was the best part, but that came straight from the book, so nothing can really be said there. The voice-acting was well done. Most character's voices fit them extraordinarily well, particularly the characters of Serena and Boyd struck me as best-cast in the movie. Words and music (mostly the trumpet)were off with the mouthing at several parts, but it was nice to have some celebrity voices in there. Little Richard was interesting, but the music itself was well-done.
The movie was better than it's predecessors for certain (Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little) in the movie category, just as I always felt the novel surpassed them. Note that I don't generally watch movies like this, but it was magic for me. I hath spoken.