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PHOENIX WRIGHT: ACE ATTORNEY REVIEW

If there's any video game franchise I've wanted to play at least a good chunk of but never got to because I never got a chance to, it has to be Resident Evil. And Pikmin. And Ace Attorney, but hey, third place ain't bad. I played the first game when I was in high school through the re-release of the original trilogy on mobile, but I wanted to go back and play through all the games now that I am a full-grown adult and I can *legally* get all the games. So, I got the first one for the DS, just so I can go back from the very beginning, and that's when it hit me: I never completed the first game, just the first 2 trials of the first game. Time to rectify this mistake.

I played the DS version of the game, which is a remake of the original Japanese version on Gameboy Advance. Even though I've never played the original GBA version, I think this is a great port of the game. It just feels right to have a visual novel with a lot of point-and-click elements on the handheld whose main feature was a big ass touchscreen and stylus, and the visuals work well on the DS. The DS could do 3D graphics well for an early-2000s handheld, but it's clear that 2D sprites just generally looked better on the console. There are some major additions to the game that got were born on the DS version, like being able to use the microphone to shout "Hold It!" and "Take That!" and "Objection!" This is such a superfluous add-on to the game that I love to death, just imagining what my sister would've thought of hearing me scream at my DS from across the hall is giving me the goofiest grin.

A new trial was also added to this version of the game called "Rise from the Ashes." It's an epilogue trial that uses the DS hardware in more creative ways, like having you dust for fingerprints with the touchscreen or viewing a 3D model of key evidence and having you look for imperfections. I personally think these lean way too heavily into the "gimmicky" side of gameplay features, with all the information you gather in these ways being much more complicated than just having you learn about all this in more natural ways like in all the other cases. I will get into all that later.

It's difficult to talk about this game without getting into each individual case, so I'll go through all of them right now and give them each mini-reviews. I will be talking spoilers in each section, so if you haven't played this game, I highly recommend you do so. This is a great game, so the more eyes on it, the better.

The First Turnabout

Given that the crab man Schaffrilas Productions labelled this case as the worst first case in the entire series, I expected much less from this case, but it was surprisingly just ok. It's nice seeing Phoenix's first defense trial, and it's also nice seeing him and Mia work together while she's still alive. The case is short, simple, and aside from Sahwit having a fun moment when he throws his toupee at Phoenix, there isn't much to talk about with this one. It's still good that this sets up Phoenix and Mia's relationship for the next case. Not bad but not impressive whatever.

Turnabout Sisters

Now this is the good shit. Turnabout Sisters is an absolute classic, with you having to figure out who murdered your mentor while defending her sister and yourself from wrongful suspicion. Even though the culprit is revealed at the very beginning, there's still plenty of discoveries to be made about what actually happened, why did Redd White do it, what was DL-6, what was Grossberg's role in all of this? It's all so compelling with one of the most iconic moments in the entire series, that being Maya channeling her sister and her helping you take down Redd once and for all. My only major problem is that I wish that the list of names that got Redd to confess didn't feel like such an ass-pull. I wish it was written somewhere on the receipt or something. Still, this is the case that got me into the series and that's for damn good reason.

Turnabout Samurai

Just another great case. This is the first case in the series where the culprit is unknown from the very beginning, so it's a real thinker trying to unravel who's to blame, doubly so when it's revealed that the victim was the one who instigated it, not the murderer themselves. This also features one of my favorite characters in the game, Dee Vasquez. I just love her direct, manner of fact way of speaking, ties to the mafia, and how there's more to her that you discover as the case goes on. I also love how, at some point, Miles just gives up his hard-ass attitude and helps you figure out what happens since he's so baffled by this entire case. Mia also gets involved, which was nice to see. I love how she basically becomes a maternal figure for Cody and how nobody catches onto how Mia has aged a whole decade. Any case where you get to yell at children is great in my books.

Turnabout Goodbyes

This case absolutely floored me with how exceptional it was. The toughest case in the entire game so far and the twists and turns it takes left my jaw on the floor. I love how what happened on the boat feels so incriminating towards Miles and uncovering the mystery behind DL-6 and why that case is so relevant for this one is just magical on a gameplay side. I also love how this case still isn't afraid to be silly, with Lotta being such a fun character, Yogi playing up his amnesia, and Polly being put on the stand being great parts of this case. Von Karma is also an incredible culprit and a devious prosecutor for you to go toe-to-toe with. A masterclass in case design.

Rise from the Ashes

I'm incredibly mixed on this case because of how it just feels out of place from the entire rest of the game despite having great elements. The story is great, I love uncovering the mystery behind Lana and Ema's past and I was so worried that I might have to convict Ema at the end of the trial, the characters are great, I especially love how Gant is easily the smartest and most diabolical character we've met so far, it's just that I never want to play this case ever again in my life. This case is so long and so tedious, and I feel that the biggest culprit of this are the gimmicky controls added to this case. I spent so long dusting things for fingerprints, rotating a stupid vase, and watching that dumbass Meekins video where Marshall's face is perfectly hidden behind that godforsaken cutout that I wanted to die. This case isn't all bad, but due to the length and overall gameplay of it, it left a sour taste for the last case in the game.

Overall, I really loved this game. It's a great first impression of the Ace Attorney franchise and I hope that the next 2 in the trilogy are even better. I currently own all the Ace Attorney games either via their original versions or their re-releases, so expect to see more gay lawyers in the future.

8/10 - If there's no more Mia Fey simps in the world, I'm dead.

[howsitduud]

IN A VIOLENT NATURE REVIEW

So I watched this indie horror movie called In a Violent Nature, and the premise had me really excited to see what it was about. The main gimmick of this movie is that it's a slasher film with a killer similar to Jason Voorhees: he was bullied as a child for being neurodivergent and was killed by some adults, now he's taking his revenge on random teenagers years later, except instead of this movie being told from the perspective of these random teenagers, it's told from the perspective of the killer, named Johnny. I think that's a pretty interesting setup for a slasher flick, since the killers are usually the most interesting characters in slasher movies. Hell, some of the best parts of the original Halloween are scenes that solely feature Michael stalking his targets from a safe distance away, which this movie has plenty of. The only problem is that this movie is fucking boring.

You never really think about how these killers seem to teleport around while they're stalking their victims because in the films, it's super creepy and effective seeing monsters appear out of nowhere. A lot of that magic is lot if you're just seeing the monster walk around the woods for dozens of minutes with the camera over his shoulder like it's a triple-A action game. Speaking of, I've seen a lot of people compare this to something like Dead by Daylight or the Friday the 13th game, where a big part of both of those games is playing out a typical slasher movie from the killer's perspective. I disagree with these comparisons for multiple reasons. Firstly, those games are games where you're right in the middle of the action and can control the overpowered serial killer while your friends run away, so that adds an element of fun. Secondly, those games usually take place at what is supposed to be the climaxes of their stories, when the humans have a plan to escape the killers and they're getting picked off en masse. Imagine playing a video game where you play as a serial killer like Dead by Daylight, except you have to walk for tens of minutes on end in order to get one kill every 30 minutes or so. That's what this movie is like.

I suspect the reason they chose this way of filming is to get to know the Johnny better, with the intention being that seeing this entire movie through Johnny's eyes will endear us to him. That was not the case in execution, if anything I wanted to see more of Johnny's personality. All I know about him is that he has impeccable hiking and vivisection skills. There are some great moments with Johnny, like when he has a flashback to his parents giving him his necklace, or when he picks up the car one of the random teenagers drops later in the movie and you finally get to see his face for the first time. These moments are effective, but it would've been more effective if we've gotten to know him more. The other downside to this kind of intention is that now we barely know the random teenagers that get killed off, so we feel nothing towards their deaths. I know two of them are lesbians, one of them is a nerd, and one of them is a narc, but other than that, nothing. I don't need Tarantino-esque writing for these people, I'm just saying anything helps. The only other character we know is the final girl, Kris, since the movie switches perspectives to her running around the woods, getting in a car, and then driving off with this random lady at the end. It's nerve-wracking seeing his deal with the trauma of seeing all her friends get killed off, and the scene where she's looking into the forest, waiting for Johnny is super tense. I wish more scenes were like this, honestly.

The only other thing to comment on and by far the best part of this movie is the gore. The only time I ever felt like this movie was emulating old slasher movies was when Johnny gets his kills, and they are oh so beautifully disgusting. I almost don't want to spoil all of them because I truly can't put them into words, they're all so incredible and utilize every weapon Johnny has perfectly. Give them a watch yourself; although, it is a shame that I only recommend doing that through a supercut of all the kills on Youtube rather than just watching the movie.

This isn't a bad movie; I do like all the ideas presented in this movie, but I don't think a lot of them were executed well at all. It's supposed to be a throwback and a new take on old slasher flicks, and I'd much rather just watch an old slasher flick. I do think the director, Chris Nash, has potential as a director. He's a special effects makeup artist for plenty of films and has only directed shorts before doing this movie, and I really think he has a lot of legs as a horror director. I look forward to what he does next.

5/10, there's a whole conversation about people using the r slur wowww what good writing.

[howsitduud]

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ASTRO'S PLAYROOM REVIEW

It's finally here. The Switch 2 has finally been released, and so many people are excited about Nintendo's jump to a new console. I was very excited for the Switch 2 and everything that it offered, especially Mario Kart World, which looked like the perfect Mario Kart game, one that truly looks like it took the whole 11 year hiatus to make. I. Was. Hyped.

Until I realized that it cost $500 and I have no money, so I might as well play on my dad's PS5 for the time being.

Even though he's had it for a solid few years now, I haven't really experienced all that it had to offer when I visited him from college. Now that I'm back home, I thought I might as well give the pack-in title that was pre-installed onto the system from the box, Astro's Playroom. A lot of people know this IP from the more recent Astro Bot, which is the fully-fledged 3D platformer that acts as the sequel to this game, but I wanted to complete Playroom before I touch its sequel just so I can get why Scott the Woz loved them both so much. And... wow. I don't think I've instantly fallen in love with a 3D platformer like this in years. Yeah, it's short, but there's so much quality to this entire experience.

This game was primarily made to explore all the possibilities that a PS5 has, with you using the controller in a variety of different ways. They even show off the graphical fidelity of the console by letting you interact with so many things and have multiple particles effects and objects on screen at once. But this does come with one major problem that I can't overstate: since Sony wanted to push the capabilities of the controller, they had all of the sound effects come from that as opposed to the TV. I completely understand this design principle and I think it can work in small doses, like how selecting a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl made the Wiimote play a little sound clip. However, when every single sound effect barring the music and ambient sounds are just coming from the controller, it makes the whole experience seem limited. Instead of having this incredible, amazing world unfold before me in high-quality surround sound, I'm just hearing it through a tiny speaker in my hand. I'm harping on this point specifically mostly because it's the only problem I have with this game, and it is major enough to comment on.

Everything else about this game is just wonderfully charming. I am not a Playstation girlie. At all. My consoles of choice have always been Nintendo products, even during the Wii U era. However, I loved how this entire game just felt like a giant love letter to Playstation's console history, with the main collectables being Playstation products like the Eye Toy or UMDs and the levels being themed around a specific console and the games for that console, like how the Memory Meadow has collectables that were for the original Playstation and how it includes references to original Playstation games through the bots, like Tomb Raider and Ape Escape. I should also say that that it tickles me so much that the levels are named around the different hardware components of the console, like the GPU Jungle or the SSD Speedway.

Graphically, this game looks absolutely stunning. I'm playing through Spider-Man: Miles Morales now and I gotta say, I prefer how this game looks to how Miles Morales looks, though that could just be my bias against realistic artstyles showing. Still, this game is graphically so impressive. Shocking that the game made to show off the PS5's graphics looks great. Astro himself also plays super well. For the majority of the game, you're just doing the standard run, jump, punch that every single collectathon needs to function, but on top of Astro being super satisfying to control, he can also get level-specific costumes that utilize the different features of the Dualsense. There's a marble costume that uses the touchpad to control, a rocket costume and a frog costume that uses motion controls, the monke costume that uses the analog triggers. Despite all of these sounding like gimmicky play styles, they all feel naturally integrated into each level and they're all fun to control. I especially loved the marble suit, it felt a lot like the ball rolling levels from Mario Galaxy.

But the biggest reason I love this game so much is simply because of Astro himself. I love that little robot so damn much. Seeing his little idle animations where he waves at the camera or pulls out a PSP are so charming. I love how you can make him do little dances and how he pulls out little gadgets depending on the situation, like creating a floatie to swim or pulling an umbrella out of his head when it rains. If Sony just wanted to stop making games and instead make plushies of Astro, they'd still make billions every year.

I don't know what else to say about this game. Despite the short length, this is by far one of the best pack-in games I've ever played, which isn't saying much since the competition is just Wii Sports and Kinect Adventures. Still, I loved every second of this game, can't wait to get Astro Bot. If you have a PS5 and somehow haven't given this game a shot, I implore you to do so. You lose nothing out of this experience, it's literally free with the console.

9/10, Switch 2 Welcome Tour found dead in a ditch.

[howsitduud]

SING SING REVIEW

Unlike a lot of people, whose first exposure to this movie's existence was during awards season this year or in a Schaffrilas video, I've had this movie on my radar for a while now, momentarily forgot about it until awards season, tried watching it but found nowhere it was playing I could get to, forgot about it again, and then finally discovered it was on HBO Max a day or two ago, and now I can finally say that I've watched this movie and I had a great time with it. This is going to be a shorter review since I don't have a lot to say about it and because I have a lot of shit to do today.

This is a movie about the real story of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Correctional facility, a program where inmates can take part in plays and musical theatre as a form of rehabilitation. What makes this movie so special is that on top of actors playing real-life people, like Colman Domingo and Paul Raci, a large majority of the cast is made up of people who have been through the prison system and who have been in the RTA program playing themselves, with the real Divine G that Domingo is playing making a brief cameo at the start. It's honestly inspiring seeing the end credits and seeing that most of the cast is made up of people who found purpose and life through performing arts, even in the hellhole that is the American prison system.

This casting choice pays off in dividends because the acting as a whole is really damn great. Colman Domingo and Paul Raci are both amazing, with Domingo giving what I think is his best work across his entire career. He hides his emotions so well when he's with his cast mates, and that scene of him breaking down during their dress rehearsal because everything in his life has just come crashing down upon him is just heartbreaking. I especially clicked with the scene where he's trying to make his statement about his case and people start accusing him of acting sincere, since that shit has happened to me in the past. However, in my opinion, the best performance in this movie comes from Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, who is playing himself as he's a newcomer in this program, opening up to Divine G and the rest of the cast as he learns to trust the process. He is electric in this movie, and I can truly see how this program and these people affected him in his life.

I honestly don't know what more to say -- this movie kinda speaks for itself. The actual film making is great, there are some beautiful shots, but most of the movie is focused on the incredible story, and how even in a system that doesn't care about the people it's supposed to rehabilitate and take care of, light can still be found in each other. This is a movie I think is excellent not only because I have a soft spot for movies about theater, but also because I can't find a single thing wrong with it. It does exactly what it sets out to do and tells its story with flying colors.

9/10, it's good to know that Young Neil is still getting work.

[howsitduud]

MAYBE HAPPY ENDING REVIEW

I will be spoiling everything about this musical. If you don't want spoilers, watch the show. Tickets aren't cheap, but I'm sure there's a slime tutorial you can watch.

Hi. Been a while.

As of now, I am officially a college graduate. I've moved back to the city, and I need a job. Still, this is a big occasion and it called for a big celebration with my partner, and that was getting tickets to see the hot new musical, Maybe Happy Ending. Despite being a theatre person, I surprisingly haven't seen a lot of new musicals. Redwood passed by me and I'm kicking myself for not checking it out, I wanted to check out that new Betty Boop musical, but I never got around to them. So it's a good thing my partner's better at planning stuff because I had a great time with this show.

In case you're not in the know, this show is a sci-fi romance musical, where two discarded domestic helper robots, Oliver and Claire, fall in love with each other while Oliver tries to go see his previous owner again. One thing that concerned me about this premise before seeing the show was that this was going to be too predictable. I like to think I've seen enough romance stories in movies, shows, and books where I know the scènes à faire; there's usually a meet-cute, a period where they're either awkward with each other or hating each other, a period where they confide in each other, followed by a brief breakup and then a big show of emotion, kiss, the end. That's what I expected going into this show and I was pleasantly surprised to find there's a lot to this story that surprised me. For one thing, the world is so fleshed out and easily understandable from what we're presented. It's easy to have exposition on how Helperbots work, how the world is, how the Yard works all feel very forced, with the way Oliver and Claire are written, it's very natural. From very early, we understand that Oliver is in denial that he's retired, he hates 5s because he sees them as inferior, but he still cares about her because just like him, she's irreparably broken and doesn't have any purpose anymore. It's not only natural that they start to get into a relationship with each other, but it's fun to watch to because of how funny these characters are.

Gods, this show is so fucking funny. Every few minutes it seems like there was another hilarious joke or bit of physical comedy that just took me out. It's already a fun premise to have robots try and act like humans, but there are all these little touches that the director, Michael Arden, and the actors make that really sell the jokes. I love the initial scenes of Oliver being racist towards Claire, the bit where Oliver has to say "You're welcome" when someone thanks him and Claire pushing this to its limit, Oliver and Claire meeting someone in the love hotel and Oliver saying that Claire's not a 10, she's a 5, the fact that Claire makes fun of Oliver for talking to his plant (the best character in the show), but eventually talking to it as the show goes on without anyone acknowledging it whatsoever, the fact that every single extra is played by the same actor who plays John and Oliver feels the need to ask them for help. I can keep going, but I want to actually post this review, so I won't. The 2 lead actor's mannerisms also lend themselves really well to comedy, with Darren Criss being way more robotic and stereotypically "robot-like" than Helen J. Shen, who moves very smoothly and naturally because she's a more advanced model than him.

Just in general, the acting is amazing across the board. Criss and Shen both are incredible, which is great since they are the 2 characters in every single scene of the musical, but all the other actors do a great job as well. Dez Duron does a great job as this 50s jazz singer, perfectly fitting into Oliver's collection of jazz records from real-life jazz musicians, but Marcus Choi is definitely the most underrated actor on stage. He has to play every single other part besides Gil, Claire's owners, and the 2 leads, and does so really well. I already mentioned how funny of a concept that is, but I deadass didn't know until a whole day after I saw the show that Choi also plays Junseo. Maybe it was because we got balcony seats, but Junseo moves and acts differently enough from John that I thought they were different actors, but no! Same guy. The magic of live theater.

I also loved how the story was paced and told. I already mentioned how there were plenty of twists and turns the love story took that I didn't expect, like how the show wasn't over after Oliver and Claire kissed for the first time. Their story keeps going as they both start living together, Oliver learns his password, and he and Claire decide if they want to end their relationship so that they can both wipe their memories because when they both die for good, they don't want the other to be too sad. This definetly got the waterworks going for me as the amazing ending approached and I got to see the title fulfilled as they both got their (maybe) happy ending.

I can't stop, I love this show so much. I haven't mentioned how the set mixes sets and LED screens so well and how they fits into both of them feeling alone until they go on this journey together. I haven't mentioned how great the songs are, with them being fun sendups to both classical musical theatre and classic jazz. I haven't mentioned how the firefly scene is one of the best scenes I have ever witnessed in any piece of live performance ever. Fuck, man, this musical is so fucking good. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?

9/10, I'm so glad Hwaboon got his own credit in the playbill.

[howsitduud]

QUEST FOR CAMELOT REVIEW

Um... I can explain.

The reason I haven't been posting any reviews the past few weeks or so is the fact that it's finals season at my college, and I need to lock the fuck in, as the kids say. With all that said, this movie wouldn't stop leaving my mind, so I had to find it on some dogshit streaming service and watch it.

I actually have a bit of history with this movie: when I was a child, I was a part of the Boy Scouts of America as an attempt by my parents to turn me into a manly masculine man who likes manly things. It didn't work, but I wouldn't have gone camping for the first time if not for them. The only thing I remember about that camping trip is the fact that there was a movie night where they played Quest for Camelot, despite everyone's complaints. The only other reason I even think about this movie at all is because the GameBoy Color tie-in game is available on the Switch for some reason. I'd like to think this movie is better than the game, but that is a horrifying thought.

This movie's biggest problem is that it's a "shut the fuck up kid" movie, or a movie where its only purpose is so that kids will shut up for an hour and a half. These movies have their place in society, but I don't think watching them over the age of 10 is meaningful in any way whatsoever. Why did I watch it? I don't know, I think I was possessed, but it looks like this movie got a cult following from people who watched this movie as a kid. There's plenty of people who genuinely love this movie. I am not one of those people. This movie is mid.

This is a very generic fantasy story; King Arthur's sword Excalibur has been stolen and it's lost in the eerie magical forest and it's up to a tomboyish female lead, a snarky lone wolf warrior, the comic relief two-headed dragon and some animal sidekicks to save the day and sing songs along the way. It's very obvious that this movie was just trying to ape the style of Disney movies, namely the more fantastical ones like Sword in the Stone and The Black Cauldron, and nowhere is that more evident than the animation style itself. Now, I'm not saying this movie looks ugly, far from it. The animation is very vibrant, smooth, and there are some great shots in this movie, but the character design I have some issues with. I do like how some of the creatures look, but I don't think the humans were well designed. It feels like they were made in order to imitate how humans in Disney movies looked, but without any sort of expressiveness. Compare this to how humans looked in other movies that year, namely Mulan and The Prince of Egypt, and it's clear how little effort went into making these characters emote. There's also the issue of the CGI elements not looking that great. Sometimes it doesn't matter, like background details that aren't on screen for that long, but when the awful looking CGI ogre starts moving like a PS2 character, I physically wince.

A generic story and subpar animation can be saved if the characters are well-written, which is a shame because these characters aren't well-written. Kayley has no character traits besides a dead father and spunkiness, the only thing Ruber has going for him is a top-tier performance from Gary Oldman, and there's Bladebeak, Devon and Cornwall, who are just annoying characters that only exist to make pop culture references and keep kids entertained. Devon and Cornwall could've been great characters, since they have an arch throughout the movie where they're supposed to learn how to get along in order to be able to fly and breath fire, but the movie never builds this up in any meaningful way. They just get along now because reasons, and we're not supposed to think about that. The only interesting character in the movie is Garrett, who's the lone wolf warrior hermit who was a stable boy in Camelot before he was blinded in an accident, convinced that there's no room for him in Camelot now. That's a pretty interesting arch, and he's the one part of the movie that piqued my interest. He does have a generic love subplot with Kayley, but that's just a product of the time.

What is another product of the time is all the pop culture references. You can have pop culture references in a fantasy movie, especially an animated one, and make it work (easy example being the Genie from Aladdin), but they just don't work in this movie. They don't tie into anything that's happening in the story itself, so when Bladebeak quotes Taxi Driver or when Cornwall and Devon sing like Elvis, I'm not amused because they're not telling any jokes with the references, just saying them just to say them, which is a problem because these jokes were made for adults in the audience. A child isn't going to know what Taxi Driver is unless they have cool parents.

The only other thing I haven't mentioned at this point is the songs themselves, and they're a mostly mixed bag. By far the best songs in the entire movie are the opening and ending song "United We Stand," which has such a grand feeling fitting of a story like this. The rest are either wholly mediocre and forgettable like "Looking Through Your Eyes" or just straight up bad like "If I Didn't Have You." I also love the fact that Garrett's singing voice sounds nothing like his normal voice. Whoopsie.

According to Wikipedia, this movie went through a development hell, with the original draft of the script was a lot darker, not being a musical and centering around the Holy Grail. That was scrapped by the executives since they wanted to make a movie reminiscent of what Disney was putting out during their Renaissance, with one of the lead animators, Chrystal Klabunde, stating that "All the executives were happily running around and playing executive, getting corner offices—but very few of them had any concept about animation at all, about doing an animated film." This is what I mean when I said this movie just seemed to be aping what other, better movies were doing, and in the process, forgot to make a good animated movie. We've seen this kind of practice time after time, coming from Disney, Dreamworks, Sony, Warner Bros (whose animation department made the movie); crunching the animators and chasing trends to optimize the hell out of their movies and not try to make a good movie, but try to make a successful movie. Those Disney movies they copied weren't a success because they chased trends and tried to be successful, they were just great movies that people loved and were advertised well. Quest for Camelot was not good and it wasn't successful.

4/10 -- wait did Cornwall call Devon the r slur what the fuck

[howsitduud]

SINNERS REVIEW

NOTE: I WILL BE SPOILING THE ENTIRE MOVIE. PLEASE DON'T READ THIS REVIEW UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE FIRST. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO SO.

I don't watch trailers all that often. Unless it's for a movie I really don't want to watch, I prefer to remain completely blind when it comes to a movie's release. Sinners was no exception; I hadn't even heard of this movie until it came out a few days ago and everyone was talking about it. All I knew was that there were vampires in it. I am so glad I went into this movie completely blind because it floored me with both its content and just how damn good it was.

The easiest comparison I can make with this movie is to compare it to something like From Dusk Till Dawn: both are movies where the first hour of the movie leaves you in a false sense of security where it's devoid of any supernatural elements, setting up every character and getting them into a single location, where the movies shift into being creature features where vampires slowly pick off every single named character until a final battle where the 2 main leads survive and kill off every single vampire. Even though it's easy to make comparisons, it's where Sinners differs from From Dusk Till Dawn where the former starts to shine.

For one thing, I actually cared about all the characters in this movie. A fear I had going into this movie was that I wasn't going to like the parts of the movie without vampires, but the quality of the writing helps draw you into the movie and gets you to know every single character and their history with one another. One thing Ryan Coogler excels at is making it feel like all the characters in his movies feel more than just characters in a film, they feel like they're actual people with whole lives and histories before the events of the movie. You want to find out what happened with Smoke and Stack in Chicago that they seem to be running from. You want to find out why Sammie wants to be a blues musician and how hanging around criminals with affect him. You want to see why Remmick is targeting this group specifically.

Another pitfall this movie avoids is having the vampire portions of the movie feel like it comes right out of nowhere, but the two halves of the movie are integrated so seamlessly that it never feels that way. The prologue of the movie has some explanation of how vampires are drawn to musicians as well as a flash-forward to Sammie coming home after getting attacked. There's also the scene of Smoke seeing Annie and discussing her interest in the occult, which is why she knows all about vampires and hates later on in the movie. The lore in this movie is also so simple, yet so fleshed out. There's some typical vampire movie hallmarks, like vampires being affected by sunlight, garlic, and silver, and needing to be invited into somewhere, but there's also the bit where Sammie summons souls of past and future musicians and dancers with his music and how that ties into the core motif of music being a source of power, or how the vampires are unaffected by Sammie praying because Remmick was abused by priests and takes that experience with him.

I also love how the people who turn still have their normal emotions and memories and don't just turn into mindless monsters. When Annie and Remmick get staked, the other vampires mourn their losses, which honestly makes them scarier because they feel more real. The scariest parts of the movie aren't when people are getting turned, it's when the vampires are trying to manipulate people into letting them into the bar, using Smoke's fear of the mob or the Klan or speaking Chinese to Grace and threatening to turn her daughter. These scenes had my entire theater on edge, I swear.

There are so many other amazing elements of the movie, like the acting. I've always held onto the belief that Michael B. Jordan is a great actor, and this is easily his best role. He plays these 2 characters so convincingly and makes them each look and act so much differently from each other. Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O' Connell, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, they all bring their A-game to this movie, so it's more surprising that my favorite actor in the entire movie is Miles Caton, an actor who has never been in a single movie before this. I also adore the music in this movie, being a perfect mix of folksy blues music sung diegetically and a classic horror movie score, complete with electric guitars and synths.

Going into this movie, I had a lot of questions: Is this movie a musical? Is it a creature feature? Is it about racism? Is the length justified? Is the acting good? Is the music good? Is it campy? Is it scary? Is it good?

The answer to all of those questions is a resounding yes. It's also the best movie of the year so far.

9/10, I wouldn't mind being bitten by Hailee Steinfeld,,,

[howsitduud]

DOG MAN REVIEW

So, I watched a couple of movies that came out this year that I never got a chance to see in theaters, and I wanted to put them both in one review. They don't have anything to do with each other other than being 2025 releases, but I barely watched any 2025 releases so far, so I guess that's special.

The first movie I watched was Dog Man, an adaptation of the comic series of the same name. Despite being a huge fan of the Captain Underpants comics as a kid, I never got into Dog Man, and that's for a few reasons. First, by the time those comics released, I was already older, and I was moving away from childish things and picking up comics that big girls liked, like the My Little Pony/Transformers crossover comics. Secondly, my mom hated Captain Underpants. She pretty much blamed my academic struggles on those books in particular, so I was never allowed to read any of them at home. Didn't mean I couldn't sneak them into school. I saw the Captain Underpants movie when it came out as well, and that movie was nostalgia in a can. The art style, the jokes, the writing, the voice acting, all of it was spot-on to what I remembered from the comics. I was familiar with Dog Man at the time, and I wondered if Dreamworks was ever going to make a spin-off movie adapting those comics. It's been 8 years, and they finally answered that question I had in high school.

Immediately what's most striking about this movie is the animation. I thank God everyday that Spider-Verse came out when it did because it spurred every single other animated movie since to experiment with cool, experimental styles that have rarely been done before. In this case, the 3D animation in this movie is mimicking the art style of the comics, being focused on strong posing, quick movements, and even some comic book-esque onomatopoeia showing up with certain actions. The characters even move on 2's in order to make them feel more like drawings on paper.

This movie also has an incredibly strong sense of humor to it. Because Dog Man in canon is a comic series created by elementary schoolers, this movie has a very childish sense of humor. Not in the way that there's a bunch of fart jokes and low-brow humor (though there's plenty of that), but there's plenty of jokes that are just cute, like you're actually seeing children make comics and putting what they find funny in it. The jokes that don't work are groan-worthy, but cute, and the jokes that do work fucking slayed me. That "Life's Not Fair" hotline is so funny, as are the names of all the stores and buildings in the movie, as is the bit where Dog Man's house looks like a small dog house, but is actually a fully-furnished, two story house on the inside.

The humor also carries over to the characters. I am so glad that they made Dog Man a silent character, because he wouldn't be nearly as good of a character otherwise. You really feel everything that he's feeling because of how expressive he is. I also like how the Chief acts like that person who doesn't want a dog, but eventually grows to like him as the movie goes on. Sarah Hatoff is a nice supporting character for Dog Man, I wasn't into her relationship with the Chief, Flippy was voiced by Ricky Gervais which is cringe, I was so sure I was going to sick of Lil' Petey, but he's actually an adorable kid who I never wanted to see get hurt. My favorite character in the entire movie is Petey, though. He's just a consistently funny character who had a great emotional core, and part of that charm has to do with Pete Davidson's performance. I am not at all familiar with Pete as a performer, so it shocked me to find out he can actually voice act. This is seriously the hardest I've seen him act since The King of Staten Island, and I enjoyed his performance.

Being unfamiliar with the Dog Man books, I had no expectations for what the plot was gonna be going into this, and I certainly wasn't expecting a movie about daddy issues, co-parenting, and atoning for the sins of the father in my funny dog superhero movie. While I don't think any of the themes and messages in this movie are that well executed, I thought they were done pretty well. All the daddy issue subplot stuff is about as subtle as a brick, but I thought it was cute how the ending to that bit was Dogman and Petey essentially becoming co-parents.

Really, you're not going into this movie for the plot or emotional moments, you're going in for a cute, fun movie about a dog cop, and this movie excels at being that. The emotional moments are just that cherry on top to make this movie that much better. This isn't high art or anything like that, but it is fun as hell.

8/10, I saw a review on IMDB comparing this movie to Robocop, and like, yeah. Name another movie with a main character who's a police officer in a hyper-stylized and exxagerated version of a major American town who dies and comes back to life through experimental means. When's the Dog Man vs Robocop Death Battle happening?

The next movie I watched was Novocaine, which I wanted to watch because it seemed to have a really interesting premise behind it. It's an action movie about some random guy with no fighting experience taking on criminals, but he's able to keep up with them because he physically can't feel pain. This leads to some great, inventive action choreography, since Nathan can power through some serious punishment while still being a goofy guy who's bumbling his way through every single encounter. I especially love how they work his unique ability into fight scenes, like having him reach into a deep fryer to get a gun without any problem, slam his fists against broken glass so that he deals more damage, and stabbing someone who's between his legs by slamming an arrow through them. This also adds to the general humor of the movie, because it's funny to see Nathan accrue so many injuries over the course of the movie, and other moments add to the humor of this situation, like Nathan doing impromptu surgery on himself or Nathan pretending that he's getting hurt when he's being tortured.

Though those scenes were pretty funny, I can't say the same about the writing. There are so many attempts at humor in this movie that just fall completely flat for me, and that's because of an annoying trend for modern action movies to try and do horrible attempts at MCU-esque humor. I was originally happy that Jacob Batalon was in this movie because I like him as an actor, but they don't give him anything good to work with. He just keeps talking and nothing he's saying is ever funny and I just wanted him to stop.

It's a shame because I do think the acting in this movie is genuinely great. Jack Quaid is a great choice to play Nate, since his more awkward line deliveries fit his character to a T. Amber Midthunder plays Sherry pretty well, giving her a lot of subtleties that I liked, and Ray Nicolson is absolutely psychotic and it's so funny. Surprisingly, one of my favorite actors in the movie is Conrad Kemp as Andre. I like how you can see his sorrow, contempt, and rage in his face during his scene with Nate. The story also had some nice twist that I wasn't expecting from a movie like this, like how it's revealed a good way through that Sherry was actually a plant working for the burglars in order to gain access to its vault. I like how it was revealed to us instead of Nate, so we could get all the tension out of this twist as we could. This also results in the "liar revealed" sort of scene that you'd expect, but Nate gets over it pretty quickly. Though it is hard to get invested in a relationship that's only had a day to blossom.

Honestly, I don't know what else to say about this movie. It is a pretty good action movie and has an interesting premise. If that is something you're looking for, then this is perfect.

7/10, it would've been really funny if Nate bit his tongue off at the end of the movie.

[howsitduud]

AGGRETSUKO SEASON 5 REVIEW

Picture this: It's a gloomy Saturday, April 11th. I had plans later on in the day, so I wanted to kill some time by getting around to watching Dan da Dan on Netflix. I open the app, and I see Aggretsuko. I was familiar with this show; I watched the first season when it came out, loved it, and kept up with every season as they came out. At least, I thought I did, because I come to find out that not only was there a 5th season, but it was the final season of the entire show. So, I knuckled down and finished the season and I have some thoughts about it.

But first, why did I drop the show at season 4 to begin with? The main reason was that there was a significant dip in quality in season 4 that turned me off of the show. For the unaware, Aggretsuko is an anime about the Sanrio character, Retsuko, an office worker who is tired of her dead-end job, so she vents by singing death metal at a karaoke bar. Over the course of the show, she gets multiple boyfriends, becomes part of a pop idol, almost dies from a stalker, and pushes back against her superiors, including the new CEO of the company. Seasons 1-3 are genuinely fantastic, focusing on the day-to-day life of Retsuko, who is an incredibly sympathetic and relatable character.

However, like I said, season 4 dropped the ball hard and moved the show in a new, worse direction. The show was now less focused on Retsuko and her struggles and more on side characters, particularly Ton and Haida. Ton, Retsuko's boss, has an entire subplot about him being transferred to the middle of nowhere where he does nothing, and I while I like this subplot, I don't think it added much to the story that Retsuko didn't. Haida, Retsuko's friend, takes over the main plot of the season when he gets a promotion and starts doing shady shit, so she and the other side characters have to stop him and it doesn't feel like this is the same show anymore. I like both of these characters, but they were great supporting characters, not the sole hooks for the entire season. Retsuko barely had much to do in this season, and she didn't get many opportunities for character growth. It was apparent that the show was going in an unnatural direction, so I kinda just stopped watching. This show escaped my mind, save for when the Hello Kitty: Island Adventure trailer dropped and I saw her in video game form.

But, now that I've watched season 5, did the show end on a high note? Kinda? This season is pretty weird, so let's start off with the first half. The first half of this season is dedicated to Haida and resolving his character arc -- he no longer has a job, and his rich politician dad is no longer financially supporting him, so he has to get gig jobs in construction while sleeping at a 24/7 internet cafe. I was so worried because it seemed like the writers took the wrong lessons from the previous season and went all in on having Haida take over. The thing is, I honestly enjoyed this arc quite a bit. Haida getting addicted to an MMO and spending all his money on vbucks is something plenty of people in the real world suffer from, and it's an aspect of life that this show never really touched upon, so I was really interested seeing it. Especially since it has a great character as a symbol of this sort of unambition and complacency, Shikabane. She's a young person who gave up on life and coasts in an MMO, everything that Haida fears he'll become. She's an excellent character in an excellent part of the show, however, I don't think any of this helped further the show in any way. It felt like the writers wanted to dedicate all their effort into developing what's essentially a B-Plot. What hurts even more is that the Retsuko's plot, the main plot of the season, is really good.

After Haida starts living with Retsuko, a galago with an anger problem shows up and asks her to run for a political office with her immense OTM fanbase. You'd think this coming right the hell out of nowhere is a bad thing, but I like the suddenness of it. A lot of the best arcs in this show are about Retsuko stumbling ass-backwards into a weird-ass scenario, like dating an uber-wealthy entrepreneur or being an internet celebrity, and seeing how she deals with it and how she starts to find herself in the process, and that's no different in this arc. Running with her idol group, boyfriend, and coworkers by her side against Haida's nepo baby brother was the spark she needed at this point in her life, and she fully embraces her more aggressive persona, something she tried to hide most of her life. It's also not like it came completely out of nowhere, the political aspect of the world is constantly mentioned and the OTM crew get more publicity if they're involved in a political campaign, so it makes sense within the world of the story. I just wish that this was what the whole season was about so that we can get all we can out of this concept.

The rest of the season as a whole was perfectly fine. The other side characters I haven't mentioned yet are fine; the only thing of note is that Ton gets a nice moment in the finale where he helps Retsuko's confidence by revealing that he fully remembers the drunk rage all the way back in season 1. A nice bit of continuity, wish we got more of it. The show is also still pretty funny, with my favorite bits being everyone's reactions to Retsuko going into politics and how both her and Haida have their moments where they lay down on the floor, motionless while the other tries to feed them a banana. I also liked the montage at the end where even though Retsuko didn't win the election, she's perfectly content with where she is, marrying Haida and getting back to work.

But something I can't help but mention now is that this season was not that special in regards to it being the final season. This does not seem like a final season at all, since the entire hook for the finale hinged on a plot that was underbaked, especially because the focus shifted way too hard towards a side character. I don't mind that normally, but since the show doesn't attempt to weave these two plotlines together in a natural way, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. When Retsuko and Shikabane meet up and sing karaoke in the finale, I don't get much out of it because I was just thinking, "what if?"

This is still a show I enjoyed watching for most of it's run, and there are even some parts of seasons 4 and 5, the weakest seasons in the show, that I really enjoyed. Aggretsuko is, as a whole, a great show with an underwhelming ending.

7/10, why Jiro kinda fine tho...

[howsitduud]

ONE OF THEM DAYS REVIEW

I won't be as in-depth as I was with the last few reviews, partly because school is kicking my ass, partly because I don't really have much to say about this movie. It's a fun, albeit very predictable buddy comedy with some exceptional acting and great writing. It's all about Dreux and Alyssa, two best friends and roommates played by Keke Palmer and SZA, trying to make $1500 by the end of the day or else they'll be kicked out of their home. Much like a lot of comedies of this ilk, the plot doesn't really matter here; the movie is instead focuses on the dynamic between Dreux and Alyssa and what lengths they'll go to get some extra cash quickly in some really funny bits. Dreux donates 4 pints of blood before they go flying everywhere when Alyssa gets worried about her, Alyssa climbs a pole to get some Jordans from some phone lines only to get electrocuted and in trouble with a gang, and they try to get a loan from a shady business, but Alyssa can't get one because she doesn't have an income, and Dreux can't get one because her credit score is so comically low that she gets laughed out of the building. I was dying for the entire Payday Loan scene, it was so fucking funny.

This movie would definitely not be as funny as it is without our two leads, who do a great job in these roles. Keke Palmer is Keke Palmer, I've loved her ever since I saw her in Nope, but surprisingly, SZA was great in this movie. Add her to the list of singers I didn't know could act because I'm unfamiliar with her work. The rest of the cast was incredible, too. Both the villains were great in their own ways: Berniece has some fun moments where she acts genuinely insane, like when she runs over the biscuit bandit and when she beats the shit out of Dreux and Alyssa by twerking. King Lolo was also pretty good as this intimidating threat that's seemingly impossible to beat. When the graphic changed from "0 hours until eviction" to "4 hours until certain death," that got a good laugh out of me. Lucky was fun as this weird-ass guy who can't catch a break, Keshawn got on my nerves when he was first introduced, but I liked how bitched out he gets by the end, Maniac was a likeable love interest, the Janelle James cameo was awesome, and Kathy was so funny as this incredibly mean loan shark. Fuck, I needed more of her in this movie.

The writing was also surprisingly decent to prop this cast up. Yeah, there are some cliches to be expected, like the ambitious person getting their big shot at a promotion undone by something their friend did, the third act breakup, the main character having a love interest who's into her despite her awkward tendencies, none of this is nothing you haven't seen before. But there are some moments of great setups and payoffs. The Jordans Alyssa gets belong to a gangster, but she's not afraid of him because of a one-off gag where he's on the list of bounties in the Payday loans building, and they always getcha. Alyssa's art gets noticed when all their stuff is out in the street, both of which were set up at the beginning of the movie. The white lady who moved into the building who Dreux and Alyssa both wrote off was instrumental in helping them get money since she was able to get hipsters to buy Alyssa's art for high prices. It's all so well put together and I loved the ending because of it.

This movie obviously isn't perfect, like I said there are a lot of cliche scenes, the third act breakup is especially groan-worthy, and I also didn't care for the blatant Church's Chicken ad in the middle of the movie. I get that the food is hitting the spot because Dreux was on the verge of death, but come the fuck on. Despite the issues, this is still a great comedy that I recommend. To all the people on Twitter complaining that "there are no great comedies anymore like in the 2000s," widen your horizons. Watch more movies than just stuff by Judd Apatow.

7/10, comedy movies are dead, my ass.

[howsitduud]

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE REVIEW

Thought I might as well get one of the movies off of my watchlist, and since this one was a brisk 80 minutes, it was chosen. I first found out about this movie like most people I assume did, in Johnny2Cellos' video ranking every single movie nominated for Best Animated Feature. Since this movie was nominated alongside Brother Bear and Finding Nemo in 2003, it was talked about. After watching it, while I did generally enjoy it and I would say it deserved the nomination (more than Brother Bear did), I honestly don't know what to make of this movie. There's a lot to love about it, but there's about an equal amount of strange elements that I wasn't a fan of, leaving a movie I think I enjoyed? Let's just talk about The Triplets of Belleville.

Immediately the thing that's most striking about this movie is the animation. The movie is absolutely gorgeous with the 2D-animated style it goes for. I love all the backgrounds, like the serene setting of Souza's homeland and the winding mountains of the Tour de France, and I also love how impossibly grand and tall the skyscrapers in Belleville look. I also love how Belleville is a parody of American culture, with tall skyscrapers, overweight people, lots of hamburgers, and the thicc statue of liberty holding a hamburger. I wonder how many people got a feeder kink off of this movie. I wasn't too big of a fan of the character designs given how *shaped* they were, but I got used to it and I appreciated just how expressive everyone in the movie was. I also really loved the music in this movie, especially both renditions of "Belleville Rendezvous." The one that plays over the credits is going directly in my playlist.

Despite all of these positive elements, the movie still failed to capture me as much as I'd like to. The plot is very minimal and simple: Madame Souza and her grandson, Champion, train in order to join the Tour de France, but Champion gets kidnapped by the mafia and it's up to Souza, her dog Bruno, and elderly singer triplets to save him. A simplistic plot isn't nessecarily a bad thing; for instance, one of the best Studio Ghibli movies is just about a girl rewriting Country Roads, but a simple plot needs great characters in order to prop it up, and I don't think this movie has good enough characters to do so. Souza is fun, I like that she's simultaneously a sweet old lady who cares for the people she meets and also a massive asshole when she wants to be, and the triplets are fun, seeing them go about their lives, playing music with household appliances and fishing for frogs by using grenades to fish for them was enjoyable, but I wanted to see more of them. There is a surprising lack of The Triplets of Belleville for a movie called The Triplets of Belleville, hell, Bruno gets more screentime than them, and his scenes aren't that much more interesting. I liked Bruno, but I didn't care for his dream sequences despite how trippy they got.

The biggest culprit in the "not much characterization" crowd is Champion himself. He's melancholic and wants to succeed in the Tour de France despite the fact that he sucks at it, but other than that, I don't get much out of his scenes. I wanted to see him break out of the mafia biking gambling ring, but that's moreso because I wanted to see how Souza and the Triplets were going to rescue him. Champion is nothing more than a maguffin, and that's disappointing to me. What's also disappointing is how little of the movie is dedicated to rescuing Champion. Once Souza leaves for Belleville in pursuit of Champion, she kinda just fucks around for a while and that makes the movie lose a lot of its urgency. I don't feel like Champion was that important to Souza if she's not going to try to find him once they get to Belleville. That makes it all the more jarring in the final 15 minutes or so when Souza and the Triplets actually do break him free from the Mafia, and I was just wishing that more of the movie was focused on the plot.

The movie does end on a high point with the incredibly slow, but still really funny chase with the mafia. It's so hilarious not only how slow they're going, but also the fact that multiple gunmen can't seem to catch up to or shoot the old ladies and a malnourished man on bicycles. It gets more hilarious when the gunmen get taken out by their own incompetance, like when they try to drive up a massive hill and start tumbling down. I do also love the final scene of the film, when the camera zooms out and we see that the movie is being watched by an older Champion, who looks over to where Souza was sitting at the beginning of the movie and says, "It's over Grandma," answering her question at the beginning of the movie.

The Triplets of Belleville has evidently clicked with many people. A lot of people herald it as one of the best foreign animated films and say it should've won the Oscar over Finding Nemo. I don't agree with this, but I do get where people are coming from. Having such a unique, anti-Disney foreign film nominated for 2 Oscars is huge, especially during the time when Disney and Pixar were winning the majority of awards.

6/10, I can't wait to watch Chomet's next movie, The Illusionist, that looks so much better.

[howsitduud]

IT GETS BETTER

This is the greatest day of my life

[howsitduud]

This is the greatest day of my life

[howsitduud]

[howsitduud]

MARIO PARTY 4 REVIEW

Back on the Mario Party grind. I think I'm gonna go in order from now on, since playing all the 3DS games back to back was not the greatest idea. The only Mario Party games I haven't played at this point are the Gamecube games, Advance, 9, 10, and Superstars, so I'm starting this leg of the journey with the very first Gamecube Mario Party, Mario Party 4.

This game is, in my opinion, the dictionary definition of a mixed-bag of a game. It doesn't do anything too bad, but it doesn't do anything too good either. There's quite a bit to talk about with this game, so I think I'm gonna compliment sandwich this bitch. I'll start by talking about the general gameplay and format of this game, which I think is really solid. Since I've just gotten used to the pace and flow of the newer Mario Parties, I've forgotten how quickly the Hudsonsoft entries go. I'm not going to be that person who says "90 minutes for 10 turns? What's the deal with that" because I expect to have to dedicate a long time to Mario Party games, but I will give credit that turns do go by a lot quicker here because Toad isn't there explaining every single thing. I will also say that some of the boards are really fun, the standouts being Shy Guy's Jungle Jam, Goomba's Greedy Gala, and Bowser's Gnarly Party. I especially love Goomba's Greedy Gala, since the casino theme is so strong, especially in the part where a roulette wheel decides which part of the map you have to go, but you can bribe the Goomba operating it so that it guarantees a certain path. I never do that though, because I LOVE GAMBLING.

The problem here is that the boards I didn't mention are utter trash, all for the same reason! A common problem I ran into was that there were long stretches of the game where nobody could get the star because nobody could get to the star space. There are big chunks of these boards that need you to have extremely good luck or have some very specific circumstances happen in order for you to access them. Take Koopa's Seaside Soiree, where if you want to get past the cabana, you have to go past these monkeys that have a 50/50 chance of sending you down one of two paths, so if you're unlucky enough, you'll go around in circles for a couple of turns, never getting a chance to participate in the game. The solution here is to just stockpile on Genie Lamps, but the lamps are rare enough and expensive enough to the point where that is not a viable option in a lot of cases. I get that Mario Party prides itself on being luck-based, but I like a mix between luck and skill in my boards, and these are way too luck-based for my tastes.

The item balancing is similarly off. The entire game centralizes around Mini Mushrooms and Mega Mushrooms, and while it's novel to see them floating around before New Super Mario Bros. finalized their designs, these two aren't nearly useful enough to justify how often you get them. Mini Mushrooms let you access mini-gates, but since the dice block is half the normal one, you'll never get through those gates unless you're standing right next to the gate, and Mega Mushrooms lets you roll 2 dice blocks and steal the coins of every player you cross, but you miss out on every single event on each board, including Star Spaces. Way to go, guys, now this item is only useful for traversing the board and not much else. The other items aren't too special, the only exceptions being the Magic Lamp, Crystal Ball, which summons Boo to steal shit, and the Bowser suit, which steals 30 coins from people, except for when you pass Bowser on his board, where he gives you 50 coins because you look just like him. That's actually hilarious.

I have not even mentioned what is by far my favorite aspect to this game, which is the minigames. I think this might have one of the most consistently great selection of minigames in the series because there are so many amazing ones here. Booksquirm, Dungeon Duos, Trace Race, Reverse-a-Bomb, Panels of Panic, The Final Battle, all of these are great games that have become classics in their own rights. There are some bad ones here, this game has shown me that you can never make a game like Blame it on the Crane good in any way, but the great minigames more than make up for them. Beach Volley Folly is also here, and it's the only way you can play characters like Toad and Shy Guy in this game for some reason.

After playing through this game, the word "mixed" is the perfect encapsulation of all my feelings here. This is leagues better than nay game on the 3DS, no doubt about that, but I hesitate to say whether or not it's as good as other ones I've played. It's clear that Hudsonsoft was struggling to create new games on this shiny new Gamecube, as nobody really knew how to create games on the console in the first year of it being out. This is commonly seen as the weak link of the Gamecube Mario Party titles, but if what people have said about the other games are to be believed, I am in for a treat with them.

6/10, better than the first Mario Party.

[howsitduud]

WIP but it was fitting