moritzherz Reviews

X-Men '97 (2024– )

The past is the future

[9/10 · 15 May 2024]

After 2018's Infinity War Marvel's highly successfull MCU lost its direction. The time-travelling element of Endgame destroyed the MCU for me and countless others. After that film every following movie was a chaotic mess, until 6 years later apathy conquered the audience and live-action Marvel is as good as dead.

In the middle of this dark time a little animated show appears, illuminating the world with its charme and presenting a way out of the endless suffering. Suddenly the apathy I developed throughout the years vanishes. Instead hope embraces within me. Is there still a chance for Marvel? Has this company a future? X-Men '97 goes back to the roots of Marvel Entertainment, which is, of course, the animated adaptations of Stan Lee's comics. With the final episode out on this day, it is cristall-clear that Marvel's future lies in the past.

X-Men '97 is a brilliant show. Its main benefactor is its compelling story that has everything from heroism, love, friendship, loss and most importantly the ability to hold together.

The score of the Newton brothers electrifies you and, when needed, touches you on an emotional level.

The animation is superb, a mix of nostalgia and modernity.

With this first season the show got itself a place in animation olympus together with The Clone Wars and Avatar for example. A second season has been announced and I hope more of these shows are in planning, because like I said, this might be the only chance for Marvel to regain relevance.

X-Men '97: Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 3 (2024) Season 1, Episode 10

X - celsior

[10/10 · 15 May 2024]

After an Xellent part 1 and an even more Xeptional part 2, the third part of X-Men'97's season one finale "Tolerance Is Extinction" can only be described with the makers words himself: Xcelsior

We start with a flashback on how Charles and Magnus met each other during the war in a bar. A fantastic start in the episode, because as we will later see, this bar plays a big role.

Back to the present we have the X-Men struggeling with Bastion who has captured nearly all of them and with Gene's fate unknown. But suddenly Gene arises from the ashes as she activates Phoenix mode and not only binds Bastions mind but destroys his minion aswell! It seems the X-Men got the upper-hand back, but Bastion remembers his favorite Marvel character Iron Man, cuts off Nathan's metal arm, crafts himself a MK-999 suite with some fancy wings, and becomes IRON BASTION!!!!!

He straight away heads to the flying X-Men asteroid-base in the sky to pull it down and destroy the planet earth. Our X-Men fight him and nearly beat him, but with his last breath he gets the asteroid moving. Everybody does his best to stop the asteroid, but it is impossible for them without the help of the strongest mutant.

Charles and Magnus are back in the bar where they met, after Charles used his powers to stop him. Magnus has lost some of his memories, so Charles has to convince him he is family. Piece after piece, Magnus remembers, but time runs out, as the water is rising and breaks into the bar. And so the asteroid is getting closer to earth.

In a last effort to restore Magnus memories Charles speaks of the man Magnus has always meant to be. Magnus remembers and once again becomes

MAGNETO

Magneto unleashes his full powers and stops the asteroid with ease. Humanity is saved and the X-Men lived happily ever after...

Wait, no!! That's not what happened! This would not be the X-Men after all.

Instead of a happy ending, which the X-Men truly deserved, they got split up and thrown into different times! And boy, does this look promising! After a nearly perfect first season there is much to expect for season two.

Marvel resurrected itself after 6 long years with possibly the best story they ever created. X-Men '97 was one hell of a ride and definitely turned me into a fan. I will go check out these comics now. Hopefully we will not have to wait too long for this second season!

Challengers (2024)

I told ya'

[7/10 · 12 May 2024]

Challengers is the tennis-drama we never had. It gives you everything from tense matches over a complicated love-story, to a great frienship. This movie might just be one of year's best.

When I saw the first trailer while sitting in Dune: Part Two, the tennis-romance mix was quite interesting to me. As the fellow IMDb users greenlighted it, I decided to watch Challengers.

Immediately from the start I was hooked. Luca Guadagnino chose shots of the main characters faces, showing the pearls of sweat running down their faces. This reminded me of an other great italian director, Sergio Leone, who mastered this kind of camera work in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

It turned out, that this would just be the beginning of an excellent camera work. Whenever the ball changes side the shots and cuts are so perfectly chosen you get the feeling of being a part of the match. This culminates into the last scenes in which they put you in ego-perspective of the players and, this is my highlight, the ball itself. All this leads to awesome matches better than the real ones.

But this would just be half as good if there wouldn't be the great score of thos film. The challengers theme appears fhroughout the whole movie and always delivers. If you hear it, you know its serious.

But the tennis is just the background, you could say. The romance between Art, Patrick and Zendaya's character is so greatly written. They both love her and she kind a loves both of them too, so you can figure out the problem. The friendship of Patrick and Art suffers from that, but eventually finds a happy ending.

This ending scene, I love it. It is a unique way to end the movie and it lets you behind with a bit room of interpretation. They could have shown how it goes on, bit they do not need to, because the viewer can think it further.

All in all this movie is full of energy. Regardless of being it the great tennis-matches or the romantic scenes. There is so much power in Challengers.

This is your perfect summer-movie, don't miss it!

X-Men '97: Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 2 (2024) Season 1, Episode 9

X for X-ellent

[9/10 · 9 May 2024]

Tolerance Is Extinction Part 1 was a fantastic start for the season finale. Part 2 even surpasses its predecessor and sets expectations on a record high for the final episode.

We start with the aftermath of Bastion's attack on the X-Men. The mansion is destroyed and the team is split. Charles Xavier tries to reunite his X-Men to fight against Bastion. But his old friend Magnus, aka Magneto plans otherwise. After disabeling all the sentinels with electri-magnetic impulses humanity is not as grateful as he wants them to be. This and the attack on Genosha are too much and so Magneto is back on the dark side, with the goal of ruling the world himself.

He stands before the X-Men and asks for assistance. Divided as they are Rogue and Jubilee's boyfriend join him, eager to seek revenge.

The other X-Men prepare to fight Bastion on his island. Once arrived thousands of his super-soldiers, one of them destroyed Genosha, appear to eliminate the X-Men.

Split in two teams, one attacking Bastion, the other is fighting Magneto, the final battle begins.

But it does not look good. Bastion momentarily is superior while Logan is able to stab Magneto but then gets punished through magnetic force.

The stakes are high as we reach the last episode of this season. I am very excited to see an epic conclusion next week and have no doubts they will manage to give it to us.

L.A. Noire (2011 Video Game)

The best crime story you will get!

[9/10 · 7 May 2024]

You know there are many games that defined a whole genre, but quite a few that offer such an unique experience, they are industrie's best. L. A. Noire lets behind all the movies and TV shows, it is far superior than those. It is the perfect crime story that should be experienced by everybody.

It is no coincidence that this game comes from Rockstar Games, the best artists of the world. After Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption this is the third creative masterpiece that will blow your mind.

Set in the late 1940s after WWII we follow a war hero who becomes detective of the LAPD. On hos way through the ranks we get to see everything police work has to offer. From traffic to homicide to drugs to the fire department, Cole Phelps has to find the clues and match them together in order to catch the killer or to reveal an entire crime organisation.

And all that wrapped up with the unresistable charme of the 1940s Los Angeles, the city of dreams. I have never seen any entertainment media portraying this era as good as L. A. Noire. The cars, the clothing, the music, the traffic lights, the arquitecture. Rockstar's love for details pays off again.

Combined with the slow but satisfying gameplay you have a lot of fun. Finding clues, interrogating suspects or chasing criminals, there is a variety of things you have to do and it never gets boring because the story is written that perfectly, it has to be experienced by everyone.

Notmally Rockstar Games is famous for its satirical approach to storytelling. L. A. Noire is far more serious and that is a good thing. The L. A. of the 1940s was a dangerous place with corruption, drugs and serial killers. Rockstar Games portrays this epoque perfectly and prove that they can just do anything they want to do.

The only aspect I have to criticise about this masterpiece is the lack of an open world. The story is linear and the only option you have to explore the city is during the missions. This is a missed opportunity. Exploring the city between the missions to dive even deeper into this era would have been awesome and the last piece to perfection.

L. A. Noire is your Dexter, your NCIS, your Chicago Fire, your Homeland and much more all in one game. If you would make a show out of this game it would get an IMDb of 9 or higher. Rockstar Games are unbeaten. I still haven't played one big game of them that was not a masterpiece!

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: The Way Out (2024) Season 1, Episode 6

A missed opportunity

[6/10 · 5 May 2024]

After Barriss left the empire years go by and we see her again on a lonely ice-planet, now being sime kind of healer.

One day a family with a force-sensitive child arrives and with them Barriss' old inquisitor sister to hunt them down. Barriss, fully returned to the Jedi way wins time for the family to escape and traps the sister in an ice cave. The sister furious to escape, kills Barriss and realises her faults. She did not want to kill her, but her anger controlled her actions. She also leaves her past behind and exits the cave carrying Barriss' dead body.

Unfortunately the episode ends right there, rather abrupt. I think they could have ended her character in a much more satisfying way. If she would duel Vader once again and dies during this fight, that would have been a real highlight of the show. This is a missed opportunity, in my opinion.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: Realization (2024) Season 1, Episode 5

Redemption Offee

[7/10 · 5 May 2024]

Since Barriss Offee's betrayal on the Jedi Order in Clone Wars season 5 and its consequences (Ahsoka Tano's exit), fans were curious what happened to her after Order 66.

The last episode showed her joining the empire as an inquisitor, but rather out of the lack of options than out of faith.

This episode now shows her on her first mission with a sister. They hunt down a jedi, hiding on some planet and to get information they ask the villagers. While Barriss asks a kid in a friendly way and gets the information, the sister asked a man who says he does not know anything. Instead of being satisfied with getting the information, the sister starts to kill everybody before Barriss eyes. Then she quickly gets to the Jedi's location. Barriss arrives and saves her sister from a deadly blow, then duels the Jedi. She wins and offers him to join the empire but the sister stabs him from behind. Barriss, furious about the sisters ways duels her and pushes her off the cliff.

She realised the brutality of the empire and decides to get out.

It is great to see that Barriss redeems herself by leaving the empire that quickly. In her heart she still is a Jedi.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: Devoted (2024) Season 1, Episode 4

Nobody is forgotten

[8/10 · 5 May 2024]

This episode shows why this show even exists. The conclusion of long awaited character arcs is bittersweet.

Barriss Offee is still in prison after her betrayal on the Jedi Order in Clone Wars season 5. But during Order 66 she is presented with an opportunity to become an inquisitor.

Together with two other candidates gets tested. The grand inquisitor himself activates the dark side in Barriss and after beating her component she is granted the rank as inquistor under the presence of the dark lord himself Darth Vader. This is ironic, haven't they fight each other after Barriss betrayal. Now Anakin also joined the dark side.

All in all this episode clearly is the best of the entire show, giving us not only the long-awaited return of a beloved character but also the appearances of the grand inquisitor and Darth Vader. We also get to see the construction of the Fortress Inquisitorious, first introduced in Jedi: Fallen Order.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: The Path of Hate (2024) Season 1, Episode 3

Let them burn

[6/10 · 4 May 2024]

The third episode of Morgan Elsbeth's arc shows her just before the events of The Mandalorian season two in which Ahsoka and Din Djarin free the village and Elsbeth has to flee the planet.

Before that happens a new republic ambassador arrived to offer her to join the new republic. She kindly dismisses the offer and kills all of the new republic men. To stress her power she burns down the forest in front of the town. Like her home planet Dathoomir Corvis has to burn.

All in all the Morgan Elsbeth story arc is a fine addition to the Star Wars universe. She had little to none back story before, so this improved her character for sure.

Now to Barriss Offee!

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: The Path of Anger (2024) Season 1, Episode 2

Long live the empire

[7/10 · 4 May 2024]

In episode two we get to see how Morgan Elsbeth and Admiral Thrawn met. After she presented plans for the TIE-Defender program, which Thrawn realises in Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn tests her with an assassin on her planet Corvis. She rules over the planet but the people are angry so the help of the empire is welcome for her.

After beating the assassin Thrawn appears to recruit her. This finally explains how the both of them met. Unfortunately it ended disastrously in the Ahsoka series, so this may not be worth much for you.

All in all another solid episode but not as godd as the first one, in my opinion.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: The Path of Fear (2024) Season 1, Episode 1

Important character work

[7/10 · 4 May 2024]

Morgan Elsbeth's character was not the most interesting, to say it nice and easy.

In fact the Ahsoka show completely destroyed several characters. But this show has been forgotten and so we focus on Tales of the Empire which tells us Morgan's backstory.

In this first episode we get to see her during the purge of Dathoomir. General Grievous and the seperatist army slaughter the nightsister clan, Morgan's mother inclusive.

Elsbeth swears to take revenge and therefore brings hatred and destruction to the mountain tribe that gives her shelter.

Eager to get some weapons to fight agains the droids several members of the clan die and the leader sees a dark future for Morgan Elsbeth.

All in all a great start to this show. The action was pretty good, seeing Grievous again was awesome and the character work for Elsbeth is very important. See you on the next episode.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire (2024)

Another fine addition to the Star Wars Galaxy!

[7/10 · 4 May 2024]

Tales of the empire fails to surpass the Tales of the Jedi but nevertheless enrichens this already loaded franchise with a few new gems.

The first three episodes focus on Morgan Elsbeths journey, starting with the purge on Dathoomir. The nightsisters get eliminated by General Grievous, Morgan Elsbeth is one of the few survivors. This event is known from the clone wars and it was great to revisit it.

Morgan Elsbeth, thrived by revenge, brings destruction to the mountain clan, that was so kind to give her shelter.

We next see her presenting the plans for the TIE-Defender systems to imperial officers. Admiral Yularen is interested and connects her with Admiral Thrawn. So this is how they met.

In the third part we see her after the fall of the empire, slaughtering an ambassador of the New Republic, who wanted to bring peace to her planet Corvis. This episode should play right before the events of The Mandalorian season 2, in which Ahsoka and The Mandalorian arrive on the planet.

All in all an very entertaining arc, that finally gives her some character. However the ultimate banger it was not.

Moving on to the second story arc featuring Barris Offee during Order 66. She is currently imprisoned as she was sentenced to after her betrayal on the Jedi Order in The Clone Wars.

However the empire offers her to become an inquisitor which she kindly accepts. The grand inquisitor tests her personally and she proves herself worthy by killing her old jedi-colleague contender. She now is an inquisitor and the dark lord himself arrives at the Fortress Inquisitorious to oversee his new tools.

After that we see her on her first mission which is to hunt down a jedi with her sister. Barriss uses her jedi-training to get the information from a child so nobody has to be hatmed. But her inquisitor sister has another plan and so she kills all of the villagers to make an example.

This is when Barriss realises her fault to join the empire and so she turns on her sister to protect the jedi.

The third episode shows Barriss after some years have gone by. She is now a healer and helps people in need. Just like a jedi. One day her sister finds her on the hunt for a force sensitive child. Barriss makes sure the child and his family escape and trap her sister in an ice cave. The sister is furious and in her anger she kills Barriss. This is when she realises that her path only causes sorrow and destruction.

In my opinion this story arc is the better one of the both. However it is still not flawless, especially the third episode ends a bit abrupt. I guess Barriss is dead, which makes sense, because we do not see her in any show or movie after these events. Still I am glad they finished her story which was open since The Clone Wars season five.

As a versict to this 6-part mini-series I would say that it does its job. Tales of the empire is a satisfying addition to the Star Wars universe. The animation looks great, the soundtrack by Kevin Kiner is superb as always and the stories help the viewer understand certain character developments that happened in other shows before.

Please give us more of this, maybe in for of a Tales of the Sith or Tales of the Rebellion. There is always somwthing to tell in the Star Wars Universe!

May the 4th be with you!

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: The Cavalry Has Arrived (2024) Season 3, Episode 15

Bittersweet, glorious, powerfull. A picture perfect ending!

[10/10 · 2 May 2024]

This day was inevitable. I tried to prepare myself for it, but it is just too much. A legacy that started in 2008 with the Clone Wars ends 16 (!) years later with The Bad Batch. I am trumbeling, struggeling with the tears. This is it. The final part of my childhood. And it is glorious, it is overwhelmingly beautiful and it is so close to perfection. Dave Filoni, I forgive you for the Ahsoka show, because without your work on the animated Star Wars shows I would be a different man today. I thank you and your team for everything you gave me. You have enrichened my life like no other had!

Consider my review of this episode as a love letter, directly coming from my heart.

Last week we witnessed the Bad Batch crash-landing on Mount Tantiss with former Admiral Rampart. Their mission is simple but hard: They have to rescue Omega.

Omega herself has her escape plan in full motion as they reprogram a droid to get rid of the scientist in the vault. Then they escape through the energy tunnel and free the Zillo Beast. The Zillo Beast unleashes its mighty power to not only devour the stormtroopers but first and formost the haters of this show. (It does this the second time)

The chaos is unleashed and Hamlock is furious. He sends out his special-mutated clones to hunt down the Bad Batch, to use it as a bait for Omega. Echo and Emerrie Karr get to Omega and the kids. What a lovely reunion between Echo and Omega! It brought me the first tears of the evening. With the kids rescued Omega and Echo go rescuing their brothers and with brothers I mean all of them.

Lama Se was with them to. Her task is to destroy all the data on project necromancer. But Rampart's following her to take the data for himself, so he can sell it to the empire. As always, imperials have only their own skin in mind. Lama Se has other plans, holding a detonator that will tear everything down. Rampart shoots her and realizes his demise, but it is too late. All the data together with Lama Se and Rampart gets destroyed. A sad moment, Caminoo's last survivor and with her all the knowledge lost forever. Now only the clones remain as relics from the old glorious days.

Back to Echo and the clones, they get to the place where Hunter, Wrecker and Crosshair are being hold, but it turns out to be a setup and they have to fight Hemlock's special clones. In an epic fight they barely make it, but Hemlock got Omega and tries to escape. Crosshair and Hunter go after them and get into a difficult situation. Hemlock has Omega chained to his hand, standing on a narrow bridge. Now Crosshairs sniper skills are crucial. Will he manage to hit the most important shot of his life? Hemlock's troopers cut off his right hand, the one he struggeled with since the end of season 2, so he has to shoot with his left hand. All the character development throughout the last 16-20 episodes pays off when Crosshair hits the handcuffs to free Omega so Hunter and him can shoot Hemlock down.

The Batch is reunited and escapes to Pabu for retirement. But before we come to that, Governor Tarkin arrives on Mount Tantiss to inspect the situation. The Zillo Beast escaped, all the data is lost, so he decides to pull everything down and redirect all the funding to project Stardust, which of course means the construction of the death star.

Back on Pabu we get to see all of team alive, retirering from being soldiers. This marks the end of a journey. The clones were born to fight for the Republic, then were ripped from their free will in form of Order 66 and the inhibitor chips, just to became samples for the empire to experiment on. Now their fight is finally over and they get their well-deserved peace. Such a beautiful end to their story.

The last sequence of this show, features Omega, as she has grown up to become an adult. Hunter is still there (he looks wild) and Wrecker and Crosshair seem to be around as well. She decides to leave Pabu to fight her war, which means the fight with the rebellion against the empire, I guess. Maybe we will see her again, sometimes?

But this is the end for now. It is a happy ending and in my opinion, this was the right decision to make. Tech's death in the season two finale was shocking enough. It was heartbreaking to witness that last year, I would not have survived any more deaths.

It is the perfect ending to this glorious show and the last missing part of the clone wars. What George Lucas began in 1977 inspired millions of people to create art themselves. One of them was Dave Filoni, the man that brought us animation's greatest show and now a wonderfull conclusion to its legacy.

As always with Star Wars, if something ends, something begins. Just two days from now on May the 4th, the next animated project in the form of Tales of the Empire will be released. It just goes on and on, no matter how many bad projects Disney puts out, there will always be people working at Lucasfilm, who respect the franchise and create magic. You can't kill Star Wars!

And I can't close this review without a special acknowledgement for Kevin Kiner's work. Since 2008 he composes the score for the animated projects and contributed immensely to their glory. But what he did with the Bad Batch is something even more extraordinary. All the themes, form the Bad Batch theme, to the clone anthem and the emotional theme from Tech's death, he got better and better with each episode. I am looking forward to listen to the soundtrack on Spotify when it is released.

So with this said, how could I possibly end this review?

Star Wars The Bad Batch gave me the best nostalgia I ever received in my life. It answered the remaining questions from the Clone Wars and expanded on its glory. But it also stands for itself. Being able to follow Omega and fhe Batch on their journey was priceless. It will always remain a special part in my heart and I will rewatch the entire show again and again with my children and grandchildren. I am sure there is even more the find, that has been missed on the first watch.

With the journey coming to its end, I want to thank all of you for reading my reviews and contributing yourself. Especially you and_mikkelsen I want to thank for your reviews! I always enjoyed reading them!

I will miss you all, even the haters. See you at Tales of the Empire and may the force be with you, always!

X-Men '97: Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 1 (2024) Season 1, Episode 8

Excellent start for an eXellent finale

[9/10 · 1 May 2024]

The first part of the X-Men '97 finale is an bombastic and entertaining episode that sets expectations even higher for the other two parts to come.

The villain reveals his secret plan as he activates his sentinels around the globe to eliminate all mutants and the X-Men. They stand barely a chance agains these cyber-humans, because of their self-repair abilities.

Fortunately the president lady frees Magneto from the villain's lair and he flies to north pole and sends our electromagnetic impulses that deactivate the sentinels.

We also get a lot of backstory from our villain, so we understand his motives.

There was also a short spider-man cameo which I liked, because it was just 2 seconds or so.

In the end a capsule crashes into the X-Men mansion and it's Charles Xavier himself calling HIS X-Men to fight against whatever evil comes.

All in all a superb episode, the second best so far, ranked behind the Gambit one. If they continue to improve God save us, because that would be an insane finale.

I said it last week and I say it again now. If Marvel wanna survive they have to cut down their live-action garbage and focus on animated shows like this. They still have the knowledge and creativity to tell fascinating stories. This may their way to remain relevant for the next years.

X-Men '97: Bright Eyes (2024) Season 1, Episode 7

Rogue's Revenge

[8/10 · 27 April 2024]

Last week's episode felt like a drawback if compared to the masterpiece episode 5 was. So it was time to set things straight and the showrunners delivered!

This episode shows us what we all wanted to see last week: A revenge for the attack on Genusha and the murder of Gambit. Rogue sets out to find the person responsible for the attack and even meets Captain America. He can't help her so she logically throws his shield away and goes on.

When they finally find the person behind the attack, they find out that there is someone bigger pulling the strings behind the scenes. In her fury Rogue goes rogue and drops the guy off the building. X-Men usually don't kill humans, but this time we all understand their anger.

It turns out that this guy was some kind of cyber-mutant (sorry for my lack of expertise) and a battle starts. Luckily they get rescued by Schwarzenegger's brother and we switch to our villain who is shaving Magneto. How kind of him!!

The next three episodes will form the finale of the first season and I am eager to see, if they manage to keep the quality up. If they do so, maybe this animated form could be Marvel's future? Their live action shows were all garbage. With X-Men'97 they returned to the roots. Why not producing more of these shows? Just an idea...

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (2010 Video Game)

Best Zombie Movie Ever

[8/10 · 27 April 2024]

Red Dead Redemption is a milestone for open world videogames and was the first ever with a western setting. But Rockstar Games decided to go one step further with their DLC Undead Nightmare, which turns the game into a zombie-apocalypse-western.

Rockstar's story and mission design are excellent as always. Their games' biggest strength is the satirisation of the United States of America and it works here again. Their developers' creativity has no limits, the player profits immensely from that.

This time there are bigfoots, burning horses and an unicorn.

The only aspect you may criticise is, that it is too short. There are only 10 story missions and some of them are pretty easy and a bit boring. So that's why the main game is superior to this dlc.

However both of them are recommended to play. These are historical pieces of art you can learn from, and most importantly, that will give you a lot of fun! Before watching a zombie movie, just play the best one available!

Red Dead Redemption (2010 Video Game)

The Destruction of Cinema

[9/10 · 26 April 2024]

In 2010 Rockstar Games, the makers of the industry's biggest franchise known by the name of Grand Theft Auto, decided to take a risk. Leslie Benzies, Dan and Sam Houser had a dream. This dream was to make a western, but not a movie, they wanted to make a western videogame. What they achieved, was not only to create one of the best gaming franchises of all time. With Red Dead Redemption Rockstar started to kill Cinema.

Red Dead Redemption, or RDR, as it is called by fans, lets you play as John Marston, a bounty hunter, blackmailed by the government to hunt down his former crew members. Marston is all the legendary western heroes combined. He is Clint Eastwood's "Blonde", he is John Wayne, Lee Van Cleef, Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper, etc.

We follow him on his journey through New Austin, the Wild West equivalent, Nuevo Paraiso, which is Mexico and West Elizabeth, which can be interpreted as the East Coast.

Each territory is unique and feels alive. The wildlife and flora is different in every territory.

RDR's open world feels alive and realistic and there is nothing I missed.

Rockstar's Mission design is king of the industry. RDR's 57 story missions and 20 side missions are all great with a few exceptions. Some of the missions, especially those with the Gatling Guns were amazing.

But there is much more than the story. If you want to complete the game, and I mean complete complete, platinum trophy inclusive, you gonna be prepared for an insane grind.

There are 7 bandit camps, 4 environment challenges, each coming with 10 levels, there are 17 outfits to unlock, 20 bounties to collect, every animal has to be killed, etc., etc.

And if that's not enough, there is a dlc, called Undead Nightmare, that gives you even more to do.

Verdict: What Rockstar Games achieved with Red Dead Redemption is historical. Who needs movies anymore if you could just play better versions of Western films in videogame form?! Rockstars cinematic storytelling makes cinema absolete. Hollywood's golden ages are long over, in comes the gaming industry to take its place. 8 years after RDR, Rockstar released RDR2 which earned 750 million dollars in 3 days. No movie ever achieved such success.

Red Dead Redemption is part of those historical pieces of art, everybody has to experience at least once in their lives. Now is the perfect time for that, since Rockstar ported the game to PS4. Go play it and find redemption.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Flash Strike (2024) Season 3, Episode 14

Fortunately, yes!

[9/10 · 24 April 2024]

The Bad Batch season three prepares everything for a glorious finale in its penultimate episode. Its title "Flash Strike" describes the episode well. There is a lot going on, the pacing is superb and the tension is high. Dave Filoni and his writers have pulled of another brilliant episode. Kevin Kiner's magestic score delivers again.

The Bad Batch now is so close to rescuing Omega and all the other prisoners on Mount Tantiss, together with revealing the secrets about project necromancer.

The Zillo Beast also makes his return at the right moment, adding another mysterious element to the operation.

All in all, this episode gave me everything I wanted. Action packed, funny moments, tense moments and most importantly it hold back the reveals for the finale!

In my opinion the last episode has to be much longer than the usual 20-25 minutes. I expect it to be 40-45 minutes like the Star Wars Rebels finale. I just do not see how they possibly could end this journey in 20 minutes.

We will find out in 7 days from now. Enjoy the last week of Star Wars The Bad Batch. A show that will be missed, at least by me!

Shōgun: A Dream of a Dream (2024) Season 1, Episode 10

Like leafless branches

[9/10 · 23 April 2024]

When I started to watch this Show I had high expectations given to the high score it has. What I did not expect was to fall in love.

We start where we took off last week, right after the door explode. I had hope. Many had hope that she will survive. But it would not be Shogun if she survived. And so she died. Mariko-sama died.

She was many people's favorite character. She was Shogun's heart. And now it was ripped out of its chest and the world feels not the same. It is emptier. It is like a leafless branch.

The showrunners planned this from the start. They did not want one epic final battle to conclude the show. They wanted it to be Mariko's death and its aftermath.

But it does not end without giving us the reveal we all have waited for. Lord Toranaga's plan was to become Shogun from the beginning. All the sacrifices he made served this purpose. So he can restore peace in the realm.

He tells that Yabushige before his death, so only the viewer knows about it. Yabushige, the anjin and Lady Mariko are tools of Toranaga and they always were.

I am not sure if I like Toranaga for that or if I hate him. Mariko died because he set her in danger. But her death will save the lifes of thousands. A satisfying and unique ending.

I wanna thank the showrunners and you my fellow readers and colleagues for this incredible journey! We will keep Shogun in our hearts and show it to our children and grand children! The story ends, but its legacy will live forever.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Into the Breach (2024) Season 3, Episode 13

Kevin Kiner

[8/10 · 17 April 2024]

The Star Wars soundtrack always has been one of its most iconic trademarks. John Williams with the movies, Ludwig Gorannson with the live action shows and of course the legendary Kevin Kiner with the animated shows. The last two episodes serve as an example for his masterclass art work.

This episode even starts with a loud sound, my soundbar let the floor erupt. Goosebumps from the first second on, not many shows manage to do this.

But throughout the episode it keeps up the quality. Being it the dark, menacing sound of Mount Tantiss or the infamous Bad Batch Theme in a different variation. I wanted this review to focus on this man's precious work. Thank you Kevin Kiner, for everything!

Now to the story. The Bad Batch still tries to get the coordinates to Tantiss with the help of Rampart. They break into an imperial space station and copple their ship on a science freighter that heads toward the secret base.

Meanwhile Omega prepares the kids to escape the facility.

Now everything has been prepared for a great finale, that we will get, I am sure of it. The hype is real!

Shōgun: Crimson Sky (2024) Season 1, Episode 9

Heartbreaking

[10/10 · 16 April 2024]

The Abyss of Life presented one of the most emotional scenes of entertainment to us. Episode 9, Crimson Sky, continues on the same emotional level.

Blackthorne, Yabushige and Mariko are in Osaka to prepare everything for Crimson Sky. Lady Mariko wants to bring Toranaga's wife and his newborn son out of danger and back to Edo, but Lord Ishido prohibits it. Mariko tries nevertheless but gets stopped by Ishido's men. She protests and declares to commit suicide at sunset. This puts Ishido and the council in a tricky situation. If they let her go, the other hostages also want to go, if they let her kill herself this would cause protest by the other high families in Osaka.

When Mariko prepares to die, the Anjin tries to convince her not to do it. But even his love can't change her mind.

Literally in the last second Ishido arrives with permission for Mariko to leave in the morning.

Our heroes win and everything is prepared for Toranaga's strike.

But wait, this would not be Shogun, if it is that easy.

In the night Yabushige opens the doors for some ninjas to infiltrate the mansion. Blackthorne, Mariko and Yabushige manage to hide in some storage house but the ninjas prepare to blow up the door. The anjin tries to move something before the door and asks Yabushige to help him. But he does not move. Instead Mariko goes to the door and it explodes.

Puh, that's a shock. Honestly I expected her to commit suicide and was prepared to fill my bathtup with tears, but was reliefed to see her survive. And then that happens. I mean, there is still a chance she survives and I will spent 7 days hoping she will, but if not, I do not know what to say. I loved this character since she was introduced. Love by the first sight, you could say. Her death would break me and the anjin all together.

All in all this episode delivered another masterclass. With nine episodes done, we have only one left to conclude this show in perfection. Humanity holds its breath while waiting for the grand finale of the best show of the year. Maybe even the best show of the decade. We will see in one week from now.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Juggernaut (2024) Season 3, Episode 12

How is it possible that people hate this episode? Shame on you!

[8/10 · 12 April 2024]

The Bad Batch's double feature one week ago was a massive banger that put the season back on track. This week's episode continues with an outstanding performance. It's tense, full of action and a lot of fun to watch.

After everything went wrong last episode, Omega is brought back to Tantiss, where she is the final part of the puzzle. Her blood and the M-count sample's can be used to clone something. However they do not reveal what to clone. This will be hold up til the end.

To get the coordinates of Tantiss the Bad Batch has to rescue Admiral Rampart from a mining fascility. He is the one who might know the way. This whole part was very entertaining to watch, because of the great action and the legendary soundtrack by Kevin Kiner. This guy put out another masterpiece.

In the end, they still do not know the coordinates, but Rampart knows a way how to get them.

All in all I really liked the episode and cannot understand why it got a 7 instead of an 8, at least. What do you expect, people? According to you, every episode not reaching the quality of peak Star Wars is a bad one. Please lower your expectations and enjoy the ride! Spare your bad vibes for The Acolyte!

X-Men '97: Remember It (2024) Season 1, Episode 5

Now I am a fan

[9/10 · 10 April 2024]

I started this show out of a minor interest. The last couple of years Marvel released garbage after garbage, so I did not expect much. And at first I kind of was confirmed. It was good, but not extraordinary. The last episode was even bad, a filler. But then I saw this episode and everything changed.

The double love story of Magneto, Gambit and her (sorry I forgot the name) was intense and the tragic end of Gambit hit me hard. I do not know any backstory of these characters despite of what I have seen in this show, so it is not such a big deal for me like for some others, but it still was emotional and very well written.

I also like the subtle criticism on the UN by Magneto when he counters the UN woman's thesis "terrorists should not be allowed to be leaders" with "many leaders decide to become terrorists". He has a point!

Most importanly this episode gained me as a new fan of the animated X-Men. And I think this applies to many people like me who just wanted to give it a try. This show has great potential and I hope they do not throw it away!

Captain Fantastic (2016)

A fantastic movie

[7/10 · 10 April 2024]

Captain Fantastic is a special movie, not mainstream and that's a good thing. This movie shows two worlds crashing against each other. On the one side you have a hippie family living in the woods away from the "fashist capitalists" ruling the world. On the other side you have the rest of the world, living the "normal" life we know. And this confrontation is worked out perfectly in this movie.

While the hippies for example, have been teached by their father, played by the great Vigho Mortensen, and know a lot of things, the two boys of the normal family don't know anything, despite going to school. The hippies also know how to survive on their own, how to hunt, how to treat wounds, etc., etc.

But they also have faults. Being kept away from the rest of the world, they do not know how this world works. Take the interaction of Bo with females. He does not know how to interact with them, because he never spoke with a girl despite his little sisters.

When their mother dies and the funeral takes place in a church, despite her will of being cremated in a buddhistic way the family travels all the way to the place to fulfill their mothers wish. Being confronted with the normal people one boy questions his father's way and wants to stay with his grand parents. The grandfather confronts him with child abuse, mentioning the many scars on the childrens body and the fact that he gave them real weapons. Additionally one daughter suffers a severe injure while trying to get the boy back. This makes the father question himself and his way of living. This concludes when Bo, ghe oldest son shows him invitations from all the big highschools. The father did not know about that, Bo assigned himself with the help of his mother.

In the end the father decides to let Bo go to college and moves into a real house with his kids. They also go to school now. So he opens up to the feared capitalistic world, but still keeps the wildlife habits like making their own food and living very sustainable.

So the message of this movie, as I would interpret, is that both extremes, the hippie world and our capitalistic western world are not ideal. A hybrid of both worlds would bring the most benefits. Everybody has the choice to either adept this idea or ignore it.

I recommend watching this fantastic movie, because it is full of heart. The great Viggo Mortensen is amazing here. This is a special movie I would not want to miss out!

Shōgun: The Abyss of Life (2024) Season 1, Episode 8

Brutal, emotional, breathtaking! Best episode so far!

[9/10 · 9 April 2024]

Shogun's 8th installment, "The Abyss of Life", climbs at the top of all episodes so far and comes with a scene that surpasses everything we have seen before.

Having to wait one whole week to see this episode felt like an eternity! After the "Rains of Ajiro", as I called last week's episode, featuring the shocking betrayal of Toranaga's half brother and his surrender to the council plus the unexpected death of Toranaga's son Nagakado, I was trying to figure out how the show will move on. A few people had the idea (and hope) that Toranaga still has a backup plan and these people were right, at least they had the right idea.

What this episode does, and that's kind of typical of Shogun, is to play with its audience. It starts by showing the condition of Toranaga. He seems to be weak and suffering from an illness. His allies question his decision to surrender. They believe there is a chance to win if they fight Lord Ishido. But Toranaga seems to have mad his decision and declares every disobedience as treason. The anjin tries to win Lord Yanushige's allegiance for his plan to attack Osaka with ships, but he still believes Toranaga has some secret plan.

Then Toranaga summons all his Lords to sign a letter of surrender which he will be sending to Osaka. But some Lords and his personal advisor Hagemitsu refuse to accept this defeat. And Hagemitsu goes even further:

He sets Toranaga before an ultimate decision. If he does not decide to fight, Hagemitsu will commit Sepukku. Lord Toranaga fights with his emotions, you can see the tears he is trying to hide. This is his most loyal friend, he was there from him since he was a little boy and now he has to sacrifice him to ensure his masterplan will not fail. Watching this scene was heartbreaking! It was one of the most brutal and emotional scenes of entertainment history! To make it short and simple: This scene almost brought me to tears!

Lord Buntaro, Hagemitsu's son has to second his own father, which makes things even harder. This was the best scene of the show so far!

After this shocking event, Lord Yanushige decides to accept the anjin's offer. He now thinks of Toranaga as an old, mad man. But then we swith to Toranaga speaking to Lady Mariko, finally revealing his plan. By letting Hagemetsu die he made sure Lord Ishido and the council think his decision to surrender is real, but in the background he plans to fight. He explains how easy the anjin and Yanushige are to control. It was his plan they join forces and attack Osaka all the time. Lady Mariko also joins the two on their journey, of course you might rightly think!

The last scene of this episode shows Toranaga all dressed up, looking as good as new, concluding hos transformation from a sick old men at the start of the episode, to a determined, prideful leader!

This episode sets things up for a great finale we will get only two weeks from now! It is awesome to know, that we will get another two episodes of this phenomenon. Shogun proved again what it's made of and the steps of becoming the greatest show of the decade are getting fewer and fewer every week.