John Wick 2

He just has one bad day after another.

After an action filled start where John Wick (Keanu Reeves) finishes off that nasty business from the first movie, he almost makes it back into retirement just before another incident ropes him back into work, and what beautifully choreographed violence that work is.

It's amazing to watch.

I quite liked that Mr. Wick only has an 80% accuracy rating and gets hit repeatedly, and while he is wearing a layer of plot armor (especially against head shots), its significantly less since they explain a bit with the load out portion of the film - one of my favorite parts as it not only shows their love of weapons but also expands on the "assassin's world".

Despite a predictable plot, the trail of blood and guts and violence galore makes for a fantastic spectacle. Is it better than the first movie? Not particularly, but it's just as good so three and a half shotgun shells out of five. I highly recommend it if you are an action fan, or if you enjoyed the original. Would I watch it again? Definitely yes! I might even go get the DVD. :)

Jungle Book (2016)

Where wolves are American, cats are English and giant monkeys are Christopher Walken.

I've always been interested in seeing this Disney adaptation of the Jungle Book, which has the orphaned boy Mowgli being raised by the generally very compassionate creatures of the forest as one of their own, which is a problem to only the villainous tiger Shere Khan who harbors a hatred for humans.

Bad kitty!

It would be ok if this was just a regular tiger, but Shere Khan is feared by pretty much everyone else and rightly so. Only when Mowgli starts adventuring does he run into other not-so-friendlies. Guess the wolf pack did a good job keeping him safe!

All the CGI creatures are amazing, and damn the mommy wolf actually made me tear up with some of her lines and emotion. In contrast, Scarlett Johansonn as Kaa didn't really work too well for me. Ironically the weakest actor is Mowgli himself, though he does make up for it with all the action pieces he gets.

Being a Disney movie there are some musical numbers but they are very toned down and cut short during the film, with full versions in the entertaining credits. It's definitely an entertaining movie, one I wouldn't mind watching again. I give it three and a half, giant red flowers out of five.

Neverwinter Online: Chult Totem Grind

The new campaign for NWO is out and with it comes some really nice looking areas which will be introduced to you in the somewhat lengthy intro quest. You'll also quickly learn that dinos have a big aggro range, Batiri that glow red are very dangerous, to watch your ranged attacks as to not draw unintentional aggro from the densely packed mobs, and to turn away from the giant eye icons above the yuan-ti dancers who can push or pull you into said mobs.

Also, don't piss off the King of Spines. :P

More importantly, you'll also be introduced to the new grind which is that for totems, the currency that unlocks this new campaign. You can only collect 100 per week to begin with but can boost that as you advance. How does one get to the 100 per week though? The Prince in the new hub gives you 6 patrol quest bonus rewards per week, which each give 5 totems, so that's 30 out of the way. His patrol quests (the ones that start from the city) are quite fun too. You might need to wait a few minutes if you finish them too quickly for his quest cycle to restart though.

There's another 20 from a weekly that comes from defeating a rare critter, which randomly spawns in the place of a regular mob. Hopping to a channel with less people gives you a better chance of finding one I feel since I encountered 2 at a very off-peak time. I'll keep an eye on that  and update here if it continues to be the case.

The remainder of the totems will need to come from repeatable quests at Camp Vengeance, giving 5 totems each. There aren't that many variants, but if you are just gunning for totems, the path of least resistance (with or without a party) seems to be "Rescue Templars" and then "Rescue Scouts from Batiri". They're fast, and don't involve fighting your way into (and then out of) one of the many ruins or sanctify spots required from the other quests.

Does that sound boring and repetitive? Yes, but it's also efficient. There might be better options as more quests get unlocked, but for now that is my plan of attack.

Aragami

A supernatural ninja who is as brittle as glass.

Aragami is the tale about a vengeful spirit ninja (that's you) who has been summoned to "thwart the bad guys" by spending most of your time on fetch quests. Everything about you is shadow. You can make shadows, teleport to shadows, and hide in shadows which is great for a stealth game - which make no mistake - this is.

Having glowing white lines on your outfit seems a tad counter intuitive.

Conversely your enemies use light. And I don't mean torches. I mean glowing swords, burning arrows, explosive wisps - everything one hit kills you (at least on the hardest mode). Oh, you you also one hit kill everything, or can go the master thief route of not touching anyone which is what I did.

Supposedly you can get other shadow skills too, as I kept finding scrolls of hidden knowledge and shrines to "power up" but the game never gave instruction on how to use them so a bit of a negative there.

The game play itself is fun and the stylistic art is pretty. I didn't mind that all the voice over is in Japanese since there are English subtitles, but the flashback piece meal story while good, was a bit tough to follow.

All up, the game is a good balance of challenge and fun which I can recommend to anyone that likes stealth games. I give it 3.5 bells out of 5.

X-men: Apocalypse

The first mutant... was a Goa'uld! What do you mean no one knows what Star Gate is anymore?

Continuing on from X-men: First Class (which I haven't reviewed, doh!), this is the story of how "the first" mutant, the titular Apocalypse, reappears in the world and then goes about trying to make it a better place... for mutants. So pretty much like any previous X-men movie so far where Magneto is the villain.

They do try to tie it in to a few of the other movies too, with some expected cameos and a healthy dose of hand waving in some parts. All those guys missing from this movie? "We're the only ones left," makes for a nice, vague response.

There is a lot of eye candy and good effects as to be expected with Quicksilver getting the best pieces of the pie, but the plot has some serious holes - bigger than the one Apocalypse crawled out of at the start, and that's even without trying to join this movie to the rest of the franchise.

Alas, poor Yorick. I wish this movie made sense.

Ultimately this outing is an ok action movie, but there are better ones to choose from within the X-men franchise to watch. I give it 2 horsemen out of 5.

Uukrul: The Beacon

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

Sage Sagaris appears while the team are raiding the treasure vaults to remind them they still need to rescue Mara in the Chaos, and to meet him at the Beacon afterwards. Those two are actually teleport stations and so, once loaded up and back at full strength the party ventures to Chaos where they see Mara sleeping in a cage.

There are no enemies here, just a lot of BS teleporters and more up and down access card things. Despite the graphics not being there it begins to dawn on Balthazarr that not all is as it seems, given they are unlocking latches on the roof and other, very mechanical functions before reaching Mara and waking her up by removing the amulet on her chest. She is thankful and takes all of them to the Beacon... which is a control room for a nuke.

That must be the lousiest reward ever.

Mara claims there is only one way to rid the minions and taint of Uukrul once and forever - to ignite the beacon, which will cost everyone their lives for the greater good! She does mention she gave the city a vision to get out five minutes ago,  I suppose that's enough lead time? Lol. Sagaris uses his rod, Mara flips switches, and the last part is for the team to recite the last line of the untranslatable prayer. Balthazarr, Andraste, Helga and Linisha join hands and sing...

Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya!

(that's my translation)

In a blinding flash of light, Uukrul's taint, army, and indeed... the entire mountain was cleansed. From existence. TEAM WIPE VICTORY!

Uukrul: Master of Hammer

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

A vision of Mara tells the group that they are now at the Palace of Uukrul (despite the graphics looking exactly the same  everywhere) and that they must "arm the beacon". What? Anyway, the initial group of necromancers is easy enough to defeat but wandering the Palace is more about sneaking past the monks, samurais and lamias patrolling the halls.

Oh, so he's a dremora!?

One particular passage guarded by three riddles leads them right into the throne room where Uukrul himself awaits! Using the knowledge gained from the magician's circle, Andraste breaks the glass heart on the floor - preventing Uukrul from fleeing, but that doesn't make the spell casting dremora any less agile with the team struggling to pin him down.

He also regenerates when brought to near death because ... only the relic hammer can kill him! Helga is on the precipice of death, being kept alive only through Linisha's healing hands when Balthazarr finally gets to use the move he has taught so many before... SPIRAL ROCK SMASH! Uukrul's head explodes into tiny, spiraling, giblets as the rest of him falls defeated to the ground. The team rejoice, their exhaustion vanishing as they find Uukrul's treasure chambers which hold a significant trove of treasure!