TV Review: Wonder Man (Season 1)

**This review contains some SPOILERS***

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

Released without a lot of fanfare, “Wonder Man” is one of Marvel’s best television shows so far, but those hoping for the next superhero action-packed story may be disappointed by the grounded tale we’re given about unlikely friends struggling to reach their lofty goals.

The plot is mostly straightforward: Struggling new actor Simon Williams overthinks himself so much that he can’t seem to capitalize on his talent to make it big in Hollywood, while washed-up actor Trevor Slattery works to pull himself from rock-bottom and find his redemption. The pair bond as they both try out for a part in a big-budget remake of a superhero film called “Wonder Man.” Outside of the down-to-earth dilemmas that they come across, there’s not much in the name of danger here. No saving the world, or even the neighborhood. However, Slattery’s past and William’s secret do give the show some tension and also tease a big betrayal.

This show is purely powered by its leads. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Williams uses his natural charisma to take a character with a lot of personality traits that could make him unlikable and make him someone the audience still wants to root for. And while Ben Kingsley’s Slattery has been portrayed mostly as a joke up to this point in his previous MCU appearances, he’s toned-down here to the point that his charm shines through but he still retains some of that cluelessness the character has been associated with. But the real magic is the way these actors and the characters they play interact with each other. Their friendship happens quickly but believably, and you find yourself being emotionally invested in the highs and the lows of their journey.

The look of the show works for the story they’re telling. They mostly filmed in LA, which helps give the film an authentic feel, but the directing also brings some flavor by adding interesting shots throughout. There are a handful of scenes that involve special effects, and while they’re not the greatest, they don’t distract from the story.

Overall, despite not being a superhero show, “Wonder Man” is a solid entry in the MCU about struggling actors and unlikely friendships. With each episode barely more than thirty minutes long and all eight episodes dropped the same day, the series is a breeze the watch in one sitting and rarely overstays its welcome.

*** out of *****

Movie Review: Return to Silent Hill

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Director Christophe Gans attempts to adapt one of the greatest video games off all time, and despite his previous bloated but serviceable take on the first “Silent Hill” game, his stripped-down follow-up comes up short on almost every level. While the plot on its core does sound like the story from the game “Silent Hill 2,” it deviates from it in too many critical ways, with few of those changes being for the better. Adding backstory elements for James and Mary’s relationship wasn’t a bad idea since it should help establish James’ motivation and endear the audience to him and his plight, but shoehorning in the game franchise’s cult in a way that adds nothing to the story was baffling. (James just comes off as a bit of a douche and Mary becomes unrelatable,) The film features all the other important characters from the game, but they’re either just window dressing or they’re changed so drastically that they lose all their importance from the original story. The overall look of the film makes it look cheap like it was a fan film, and the creepy monsters look fine initially, but often seem silly looking the longer they’re on screen. (Also, swapping out the classic fog for falling ash just doesn’t work and this is the second time this director has done this in his adaptions, this time creating yet another excuse for the change.) The acting is almost never convincing, with James’ dry narration not helping matters. Overall, the movie is fairly boring, the story gets convoluted in all the wrong ways and while the game featuring multiple endings that fit the choices the player made, this film seems to at least wrap things up with one of the memorable ones, before it does its own things with a cheesy ending that makes no sense base on the story that it was telling.

*1//2 out of *****

Movie Review: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Following up the unevenly produced “28 Years Later,” the sequel gets off to a slow start before wrapping up in an intriguing fashion. The directing is good but employs a few too many jump scares and doesn’t try to be experimental like the last movie did. The film struggles early, as it initially feels like two unrelated stories competing for attention and giving little indication that they’ll come together. Shockingly, the plot featuring Alfie Williams’ Spike is the weakest link, particularly since his character goes from being the lead in the previous film to almost a background character here. Instead, the focus is on Sir Jimmy and his Jimmies, which feels like watching the gang from “A Clockwork Orange,” except even more sadistic. While a franchise about infected people ripping apart the non-infected has had its share of gory violence, the human-on-human violence perpetrated by the Jimmies almost hits “torture porn” levels. Thankfully, the segments of the film featuring Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson are much more compelling. And, when the two groups of characters finally meet, there’s a fun and visually appealing sequence that pulls things together in a slightly rushed but overall strong fashion.

**1/2 out of *****

Video Game Review: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch)

**This review may contain minor SPOILERS**

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

After an almost twenty-year hiatus, the “Metroid Prime” franchise returns. And while the latest game takes what has worked and refines it, it only makes a handful of changes to bring the series into the modern era.

For those hoping that this game would move the series into the open world format the way the “Zelda” games have recently, be prepared to be disappointed. The gameplay is mostly like the previous “Metroid Prime” games, featuring various zones that are standalone but loosely connected. Here, they add a massive dessert area that functions as a hub to all the other areas. This does help make the planet feel more well-realized, with the different zones feeling like actual locations on this alien world. And while travel is generally a breeze thanks to the nifty new motorcycle that is introduced early in the game, the multitude of sand dunes can get fairly bland, especially considering there’s not really all that much to discover.

As far as the plot goes, it may by the weakest part of the game. Aside from Samus once again dealing with a dead or dying race, there’s not much sense of urgency to deal with her predicament or to help these beings. And important plot information is so casually dropped that much of what’s happening can easily go over your head. It doesn’t help that there’s a lot of convoluted lore to this franchise and if you’re not too versed in it, especially considering the gap between these games, some of the big reveals will leave you scratching your head.

If you’ve played the other games in this series, you already know what to expect from the gameplay. (But don’t underestimate the concept of using the scan function on everything if you’re hoping to 100% complete the game since Retro Studios is notorious for slipping in missable scans.) The game adds quite a few “psychic abilities” for Samus. However, most of them are just her normal abilities with the word “psychic” added to them. The new control beam is pretty cool but ends up only having limited use in combat. Also, while the motorcycle is a solid addition, it actually plays way less of an impact on completing the game than the tutorial would lead you to believe. On that note, the tutorial typically tells you how to properly use your abilities and weapons, but sometimes you’ll suddenly find yourself needing to pull of a new move, only to realize the game never explained how to do it. (Some of the motorcycle abilities for example. I had to google them since they game failed to let you know how, and a few other things aren’t that intuitive.)

The game looks good overall, with nice level designs and attention to detail that makes everything feel lived-in. The soundtrack is pretty great, and the voice acting is good for what is called for. The NPCs are a mixed bag. They’re fleshed out just enough to start to care about them, but not interactive enough to feel like they’re more than just set dressing a lot of the time. But the biggest drawback is Samus’ lack of communication. She has no dialog, and she often replies to important questions from her comrades with either just on nod or sometimes even just a vague stare. It makes her come off like a bit of a jerk and it the other character seem beneath her.

Overall, “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond” is another fun entry into series, but it only marginally brings the franchise into the modern age of gaming. While exploring the zones and finding new gear to let you reach new areas is fun, slow load times and a bit too much backtracking starts to suck the life out of things.

*** out of *****