Welcome back to week two of The Zoellner Chronicle. A silly name I know, but I couldn't really come up with anything else. This week we start the normal format of one movie review, one TV show review, and one video game review.
The Fall(2006)
"In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances."( From Letterboxd)
A great film by director Tarsem Singh known for Mirror Mirror and Immortals. This film was visually gorgeous and used almost entirely practical effects and stunts. Every part of the film is shot on location.This decision added to the sense of grandeur of the fantasy world. A perfect example of this is the montage in the middle of the film showing the fantasy heroes traveling to a bunch of real-world monuments like the great pyramids. Some of these shots are only on screen for one second.The dedication to showing real locations was very admirable.
There was also some really fantastic editing in this movie. My favorite edit was a match cut between someone's face and a landscape that looked incredibly similar.
The highlight of the film was definitely the acting. The acting from Lee Pace and especially Catinca Untaru is fantastic throughout the film. Catinca is the most impressive and convincing child actor I have ever seen. She delivers an absolutely gut-wrenching performance ,and I am sad that she only acted in this film.
However, the story is a bit weak. This is a constant issue for Tarsem as a director. The general consensus is that he makes visually beautiful films, but the stories in those films are typically weak. The story in this isn't bad per se, but it felt pretty basic overall. I do enjoy how the story was told. Seeing the similarities and differences between the fantasy sequences and the real world was interesting to see unfold, and reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth.
Overall, this film was very good and only held back by a somewhat weak story.
Score 8.5/10
The Mandalorian Season 3 Mid-Season Review
(As of this writing, four out of the eight episodes for this season have been released.)
Star Wars needs no introduction. Neither does The Mandalorian, one of the few parts of Star Wars that has been generally well-liked by the fandom after the properties acquisition by Disney. I have been a big fan of most of the Star Wars TV shows and was excited to see more of The Mandalorian.
So far, season three hasn't been great. The main issue is the lack of an overarching narrative. Its initial overarching plot involved Din Djarin rejoining his cult by bathing in the living waters on Mandalore, but that plot was solved in the first three episodes. There are still five episodes after that in the season.
Episode one serves as a reintroduction to the series and follows Din Djarin as he tries to rebuild IG-11 after his death in the first season so that he may have a droid to analyze the air on Mandalore. He discovers at the end of the episode that he can't rebuild IG-11 and has to use another droid. This episode is completely pointless, and we could have just started on episode two. Not a great start.
Episode two is the best of the four we have gotten so far. Din Djarin arrives on Mandalore and searches for the living waters. Seeing the decimated planet and the cities that once stood there were great visuals. I liked how Grogu had to take charge after Din was captured by the cyborg. I hope to see more of Grogu doing things on his own. I also enjoyed the scenes with Bo Katan and Din Djarin as they reflect on the history of their ancestral planet.
Episode three is strange as it is completely disconnected from the main plot. It instead follows Dr. Pershing, a minor character from season 1 trying to reintegrate into the New Republic. This episode is the longest one in this season so far and, again, it feels pointless. It subtly sets up that Moff Gideon may be returning as the central antagonist, but that is the only major story implication this episode has. The plot around Pershing is somewhat interesting, but it feels like a completely different show compared to the rest of the show. The parts of the episode I found interesting were the few minutes of Din Djarin and Bo Katan and the ending of the Pershing story.
Episode four feels like an episode from season one. It involves a very low-stakes fight with a space creature who kidnaps one of the foundlings. An ultimately inconsequential plot that doesn't set up anything.
It feels like the show is trying to avoid an overarching season plot. The show desperately needs some kind of goal for the season. An antagonist to beat or a goal to be accomplished.
The highlight of this season so far has been the focus on Bo Katan. Her joining the cult is an interesting development and I'm not sure if she really means to join the cult or if she is planning something behind the scenes. She still likely has an interest in the Darksaber, the lightsaber that unites all of the Mandalorians, so we may see her turn into an antagonist as the story goes on. I look forward to seeing where this plot point goes in the next 4 episodes. (Assuming anything does happen)
Four episodes in, and I still don't have any idea of what the plot of the season as a whole will be. I have not been impressed by the first half of the season, but I do hope that the second half can be better.
No score because the season has not concluded its story, and the latter half may change my opinion of the first half.
Decieve Inc.
"Go undercover as the world’s greatest spies in this tense multiplayer game of subterfuge. Disguise as anyone, deploy an arsenal of high-tech gadgets, or neutralize the competition. As long as you extract with the objective, no trick is too dirty when you work for DECEIVE INC."(From the Steam Store Page)
I have been looking forward to this game for a while now. The trailers made it seem like a multiplayer version of the Hitman games, which I was completely down for.
Decieve Inc is a multiplayer shooter where you play as one of 8 different agents trying to steal an item from a secure vault. To open the vault, three different levers found in various places on the map need to be pulled. These levers are hidden in areas that require you to disguise as specific NPCs that roam the map.
Each agent feels very unique from the others, and each has a different gun and abilities. The abilities and guns also have three different variations for each agent, allowing the player to utilize a multitude of playstyles
The agents can also utilize different gadgets, such as a portable turret and a gadget that allows you to mimic various objects found across the map. This gadget is especially fun for setting up ambushes in areas where other players won't be expecting you.
The gameplay feels very different from every other multiplayer shooter on the market. Instead of gunning down anything that moves, you need to be methodical and stealthy. If you aren't, you have a good chance of being caught and taken down by another player. Most of the match is spent carefully collecting upgrades and keycards that allow you to access different parts of the giant maps. The gunfights are all quick and take up around 5-10% of the match time. The game puts more emphasis on proper planning and strategizing rather than gunplay
Despite the emphasis on planning, the gunplay still feels very good. All of the guns fill certain niches and feel great to shoot. The addition of abilities adds a lot of variation to the gunfights. For example, a few agents have abilities that allow them to easily escape a fight they do not want to participate in.
Decieve Inc. offers two main game modes: solo and team. Both of them play the same with the only difference being whether you are on a team or not. I personally prefer the team mode, because it allows my friends and I to come up with goofy and fun strategies that might or might not work.
The only notable downside is that the game can be a bit glitchy and buggy at points. However, these issues will likely be patched with updates over time.
Overall, Decieve Inc. is a very fun take on the shooter genre and I look forward to playing it long into the future
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Score: 9/10
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