Power Rangers Reveal!!!

I had to discuss the below:

First of all, let me start by stating the obvious: I am beyond excited for this 2017 reboot of the Power Rangers. I have loved them throughout my childhood and I was a huge fan of the 1993 movie. I dragged my dad to the theater to see it dubbed in French. I am telling you, it doesn't make it any better.

Now we get to have a look at the Rangers themselves. And what do I think? I think they're bloody amazing. They look so tough!! DAMN! The first thing they talked about when releasing the photo was diversity. I don't think they had to mention it, Yay, you did a good job, do you want a parade? To me this group just looks like an obvious representation of today's youth. Not just because they are diverse but because they seem to be from different backgrounds, culture and seem to have very different and distinct personalities. Also, they look like they can kick ass with style and that is really what matters most. The girls look like strong heroines that could potentially be awesome role models and the guys are freaking hot so this works on every level for a woman like me! I can't wait to watch this. Also, Elizabeth Banks is in this movie and it totally satisfies the more mature side of me.

What did you guys think of the reveal? Are you excited??

LEGO Marvel Avengers - Building Bridges

Because this is what you do in LEGO Marvel Avengers, you build bridges. The first missions I played were basically one Avenger after the other having to build a bloody bridge for the other, more useless Avenger to use. I am going to read a very deep message of world peace and the meaning of cooperation and teamwork into these repetitive and painful missions.

Well, I suppose I did at least get to know what each of the characters could do and which one I needed to use for certain tasks. I did find this slightly unbelievable however, since everybody knows Iron Man can basically do EVERYTHING. I do not know why he would need the Hulk to bust a electric panel. This little LEGO trick to make you use all characters aside, I loved being able to play with all the Avengers and use their different attacks and skills. I believe my favorite special skill was Cap's ability to put out fires like a boss. This distracted me from every other quest and I just put out fires one after the other. 'Twas magical. If you are a fan of the franchise, this will truly be a treat - not the fires, the characters' specificity. You need to have loved Age of Ultron though, otherwise you will be doomed to relive every single scene of that movie again. Another trick LEGO reused from previous installment was the remix of original movies' voices to create the game's VOs. I didn't remember that they used the same artifice in the Lord of the Rings version but apparently they have been doing it for years. It was pretty neat anyway to hear the Avengers' real voices. However, I was able to recognize the scenes these sound bites were taken from, which made it slightly weird.

Regarding mechanics and gameplay, I did love the change in pace when flying Avengers took center stage. There was a sweet Iron Man sequence where I had to fly around shooting baddies and it was a lot of fun. The latter is sort of what I am expecting from a LEGO game. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed because somehow, the fun was limited and I always had to go through some annoying puzzles to get to the next fun bit. They were very unintuitive even for the serious gamer. Fighting my way through enemies and destroying everything as the Hulk was just freaking amazing. There is no denying that. However, having to find what I am supposed to do for 30 minutes and where to go and which character to use was just painful. I felt like I was in a Tomb Raider game without sexy Lara or a cool story. I do not want to invest time and/or brain power in a LEGO game, I just want it to be pure entertainment (unless it has some amazing original story and character development, somehow). I am not going to see a Marvel movie for a complicated plot I have to decipher. No. I am going to see a Marvel movie to be entertained. I am sure this game fares well with kids who have time to spare for puzzles but I personally will only find a puzzle worth my while if it is pushing the story forward or if I get a badass loot out of it. You get neither here. I am also very picky with my stories and I feel like rehashing something and using the same plot and visual is just plain lazy now. It's an easy cash grab for sure but the admiration I had for the business acumen is dwindling. Also, they just pop these out every 6 months, I am not sure how many LEGO games people are going to be able to keep on their shelves at this point. Apparently people were excited for LEGO Avengers since Superheroes was good but I feel like this one doesn't live up to the hype.

Have you guys ever played a LEGO game? Do you or kids like them? Did you like this Avengers version? Let me know!

I give the LEGO Marvel Avengers a 2/5 cats. (I am aware this is DC. Try and find two cats in a Marvel costume in the same picture, it's tricky AF)

Deadpool - The hype has been delivering lately

I haven't been disappointed in a movie I have dragged my ass to theaters for in a long time! The hype behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a lot bigger than it was for Deadpool, but still, you had expectations. They built the movie up so much with their incredible marketing and the plethora of short, very funny, clips they released. I knew I was in for a treat: Ryan Reynolds, superhero action, over the top, quirky comedy. This is everything I love.

However, after the first 5 minutes, I got slightly anxious as I couldn't quite adapt to the rhythm of the comedy and the flow of dialogue vs action. This is a very original, quirky movie and to be thrown in it was a little overwhelming for me at first. Thankfully, I got the hang of it after the first action sequence and I was hooked. There are many things that are just beautifully done in this film. The first is simply the writing. As they announced in the credits, the writers are the fucking superheroes of this movie. And that is very true. The dialogues were written to make you laugh, shock you, push boundaries and break codes of cinema. However, the performance by Ryan Reynolds was beyond brilliant too. He spends most of the movie behind a mask and manages to transmit emotions better than 80% of dramatic actors out there. The best thing about his performance was that those emotions were raw and truthful. He reacted just like any normal person would with very simple and primal expressions. I loved that about Deadpool. The random appearance and mention of Hugh Jackman/Wolverine was a treat. So was the reference to the studio not being able to afford more X-men.

Of course, all of these make for a super fun, extremely hilarious and exciting ride, but would have I enjoyed it as much should the movie had no substance? Perhaps it didn't have any. I mean, the premise was pretty basic and the story was quite cliche. However, two things, no three things 'saved' the narrative core of Deadpool. 1. the movie was not stretched out to be 3 hours long. It was the right amount of time to tell this story. 2. the flashbacks and original timeline made the story more interesting and complex. 3. the characters were all very interesting and fleshed out. I even cared whether the cab driver got the girl or not. In the end, it didn't really matter whether the story was complex or deep enough. We all paid to see a superhero movie and it might make it worse to try and convey a message with that sort of genre. Everything about Deadpool was beautifully violent and gory, hilarious and completely inappropriate, intimate and in your face. Please, do not take your kids to see this. Not because it's over the top violent or sexual, but because you will spend the whole movie trying to explain to them what "it's the only thing pulling out tonight" means. I had the best time watching this film and I actually was wrong about the message. There's a deep message in Deadpool: don't leave your trash in the theater, it's a dick move. Also I didn't know unicorns were a thing, I am buying one tomorrow.
This is totally a 5/5 cats!

Fallout 4 - How easy is it to create a sexy character?

How many times can I say the word "prominent" in a video? Well you can find out by watching my "how to make a sexy Fallout 4 character" video, it should be a drinking game.

I just wanted to take some time to talk about the now old Fallout 4 character creator. The latter exercise in imagination and wishful thinking is one of my favorite part of any RPG and I always find myself spending hours and hours creating and re creating my characters. Granted, most of us do, but this is how Dragon Age: Origins hooked me back into the world of gaming so it has a very special place in my heart.

I do like Bethesda's ability at making a great character creation tool and we've seen them do it time and time again with Elder Scrolls so it is no surprise the Fallout 4 version is as good. In my video I mention that I really liked the recent Final Fantasy XIV one and I stand by this. I thought it was one of the greatest. I suppose that the fact that FF XIV aesthetic is much more rooted in fantasy and anime makes for a more entertaining experience. It gives you so much more freedom and options with your character that it's pretty difficult to beat. I was able to choose some awesome outfits, ears, tales, races and I could go on for a long time. Even though Elder Scrolls had different races to choose from, the realism was still too important to really let your imagination loose. But this is the type of game we are dealing with here: realistic representation of a fantasy world, so your character needs to be somewhat relatable.

I will compare Fallout 4 character creator with DAI's. Even though, as an overall game I much prefer DAI, the character creator was fairly lacking. You didn't have much option when it came to hair, unless you wanted to choose between 3mm or 5mm on your head. The different features were also limited to a few choices and unless you went with the Elf, you couldn't really add much to a human's face. I understand the constraint of realism and I am aware that there are lady gamers out there that want for their female hero to be as realistic as possible but I am not in that camp. For sure. I know people who want their female warrior to exclusively have short hair because that would be the practical choice in that situation. They also do not want their warrior or soldier to use skimpy outfits and show some skin because, should you be in the situation of fighting off a horde of Reapers or creepy monsters of the Wasteland, you certainly would cover yourself with as much armor as possible. Well, I say fuck feminism and equality. I want my characters to be both bad ass AND fashionable! Nothing made me happier than seeing Shepard fight her way through the Citadel defenses in her little black dress (Citadel DLC). I want super long hair that get tangled in branches while fighting dragons and skirts that don't stop bullets.

I have to say that Fallout 4 gave me some of the tools to make that happen but still, no hair below the shoulders my dear friends!! I still tried to make a sexy Fallout 4 hero and I think I succeeded, because who said that short hair wasn't super attractive? What do you think of my character? Have you managed to make a sexier, better female in Fallout 4? What's your favorite character creator? 

I give Fallout 4 three cats out of 5 for their tool...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - because I completely forgot to write about it a month ago

Like every curious person on this planet, it was my duty to go see this new Star Wars. Bloody Star Wars. Weeks, or should I say, MONTHS before it came out, I really couldn't bear the hype. I am all for sci-fi in every form and I would have been so excited for this movie if it didn't have the name Star Wars attached to it. Because of this, my whole Facebook feed was an unstoppable stream of Star Wars news and videos and interviews and images. At that point, I think I would have punched R2D2 if he rolled up to me (and I LOVE him).

I guess I wasn't as excited by the prospect of a new Star Wars and all the pre-movie buzz because I was never really a Star Wars fan. I was born way after the first movies and my dad was a lot more into Die Hard type movies than Star Wars to take the time to show me the originals. I think I stumbled upon them on TV at some point but found them so very cheesy. However, I fell in love with the Ewoks and I watched all the Ewoks adventures through their TV movie and their cartoons. Loved that stuff when I was a kid. The movies just were too intricate for me at that age. Then came the sequels when I was a teenager. My taste in movies was not fully fledged and I kinda enjoyed these new stories.

To be fair, at 14, I totally adored Anakin (Hayden's version) so I watched them all several times and imagined myself as Padme, of course. I think I watched them again in my 20s and I noticed how terrible they were and how cliche and cheesy and how the dialogue was meant for 10 year olds. Seriously. So really, I dived in this new iteration with super low expectations and a lot of irritation. The saving grace was JJ. This dude!! Sitting down in the theater and starting to watch this monster of a movie, I found myself laughing about 2 minutes in. And that was it. I knew I was in for a very good ride. It was clever. That's everything I wanted from a film set in this epic universe.

The Star Wars universe always very much intrigued me and I love everything about it. Jedis, chosen ones, epic battles, robots, intergalactic travels, awesome ships, interesting races and mythology. These were always great. However, I always felt like nobody took advantage of it. To me, the best piece of content ever to come out of this world is "The Old Republic" from Bioware. That's what I wanted to experience in this universe. I now feel like the movie side has caught up to this. The visuals were stunning and totally propelled you back in the great adventure that Star Wars is. Thanks to new technology but also brilliant vision, the universe came to life in an effortless way. I really wanted to live and experience that world and be a part of it.

Setting and universe aside, the characters brought life to a very good story. Even though we are just repeating a winning formula, I don't see anything wrong with that. To me, Avatar repeated a winning story but did it so well that it didn't bother me in the slightest. How many romantic comedies that have the exact same plot have been released since 1980? To me that's not even a point to make. The movie is continuing the epic story that was started before, adding some side plots that are very relevant and giving this one movie a villain to defeat. I love that they stayed consistent with the originals and are going to keep Kylo Ren long term. I really do not like the "villain of the day" format that movies serve us most of the time. That's why I really like Hydra in the Marvel universe and do not care for the interchangeable villains they give us in the individual movies. Apart from the evolving villain that we seem to have in this new Star Wars, the heroes and supporting characters were also awesome. And my favorite one was BB8, There is no way BB8 is not everybody's favorite character. I thought R2D2 was cute and awesome but BB8 was designed to overload this movie with cuteness and comic relief. I am not sure how many times the whole movie theater went "awwwwww" when he was rolling around. This thing is genius. Giving life and soul to voiceless characters has always been Star Wars' strength but they climbed to a very different level here. Chewy's conversations with Han were also brilliant. I feel like I am going to gloss over Rey and Finn but to me they were just part of a bigger ensemble that worked really well.

Of course, they're great actors, did an awesome job and Rey is now probably many girls' role model. And thank god for that. I am so glad that we now have a strong female Jedi at the center of this universe, this obviously makes it so much more appealing to me.
All in all, I have to say that Star Wars was my favorite movie this year and one of my favorite movie ever. I am quite saddened JJ is not going to come back for the sequel but I have hopes they now have a good idea of what Star Wars needs to be for fans and franchise newbies alike.

I didn't do a cat rating video on this one but if I did, it would get a 5/5 cats.

Extant Season 2 premiere - Changes for the better?

I remembered nothing from last season. Well I had a vague idea of what the series was about but I couldn't tell you what happened in the last episode of the first season. I remember Molly has a cute alien kid and a creepy machine that looks like a kid. How long before the latter develops super human strength and goes on a rampage? I don't know. Maybe they will pit one against the other, see what's worse for humanity: alien invasion OR cyberpunk reality? Thank god for "previously on", it put me right back on track. It reminded me how much I love this show. I mean, back in the 90's, we had X-files, we had Roswell. We had The Next Generation. Aliens and space were all the rage. Nowadays, vampires and super heroes have taken center stage. They have tried to revive the genre with survival sci-fi like Falling Skies or Defiance.  They also tried Star Crossed, basically an alien version of Twilight. That didn't go so well. None were actually going back to that golden age of the unknown. They took sci-fi, aliens and the future for granted. Extant has been different. The production value of this show is just off the charts, for starter. Obviously, it stars one of the best actress out there and she makes every episode looks like a multi million dollar movie. Extant is set in the future but it is very recognizable and it could easily be our future. The technology is believable, people are still relatable and you discover the science fiction of it all along with the characters. There is mystery and intrigue. I am hoping the these qualities will remain even though the show seems to be heading in a different direction.

Anyway, I completely forgot that Ethan sacrificed himself to stop the alien kid's "friends and family" to come to Earth. But I think I recall Ethan actually uploading himself everywhere or something Skynety like that. Maybe I shouldn't have watched Terminator before Extant, it totally distorted my view of robots. We start this second season of one of last year's television standout by jumping back to a time when Molly was a star, a hero, and when Ethan was brought back as easily as  he was gone. When you see Molly using virtual reality and saying to Ethan that she misses him, you logically believe that Ethan is ancient history. But he's not. Talking about this "resting" place Molly is in, I have to say, I love the sim she uses where you basically are in a porn next to 10 other people who are probably in a porn too. That's cool.

Before they jump us in the crux of things and explain to us why Molly is in a "home", they reacquaint us with the alien kid. I seriously thought he was going to eat the baby (which would have been fair as he was well annoying) but instead, he makes some magical twinkly animals and we all go "awwwww". He's a sweet alien with awesome babysitting skills. I did find it weird to be looking at Molly in the present time, then jump 6 months back only to jump forward 4 weeks about 2 minutes later. However, I now understand the concept after seeing the whole episode.

There are a lot of things happening in this episode and the first bomb to drop is that John is a cheater. It's interesting that she suspects him of having an affair with Julie only now. She could have sensed something right after coming home but I suppose she was too involved in her own storyline to realize he was acting weird as well. Right when you feel like the conversation is going somewhere, another bomb drops. The government breaks down the door and for some reason, seizes Ethan. This has something to do with security and the army, as usual. There is a common theme exploited here, one that reminds us that a robot can be more compassionate and more humane than human beings. This is very typical of sci-fi, and in all fairness, typical of every story. Should it be robots, aliens, minorities, superheroes, animals, monsters. We love to remind ourselves that evil people will sideline anything or anyone different, even though that difference doesn't affect the subject's capacity for emotion. This is a recurring theme in every story but I thought it was hammered in pretty hard in the first half of this episode. But the latter really doesn't matter, because the third bomb drops: Julie is a bitchass traitor. I was in the middle of processing this information and the fact that her stare was really becoming psychotic when the most Game of Throne scene happened. John gets killed! by his car! It is clearly a murder plot and a cover up, but who gave the order? Has Julie's phone call anything to do with it? When John gets hit by the train and the "6 months later" appears on screen, that's when I understood the relevance of the time jumps in the beginning of the episode.

Just before John dies, he had a conversation with Julie that went like this: "Is this how they convinced you? protecting the country?". I wanted to say: "No, she's just a crazy vindictive bitch!". There was an interesting conspiracy in the 1st season but what they served us in the very first episode of this season is on a whole new level! Finally, we are caught up with the events leading to Molly's state. We find her in a mental institute, which is totally understandable. When her husband died, she got drunk, burnt down her house and, wait for it, attacked Julie with a shovel. That made me laugh a lot, I would have done the exact same thing. This episode reminded me how much I love Halle's character. She has conviction and she's smart. I also feel for her, so bad, I hate it when the viewer knows something along with the character and everybody else thinks the character is crazy, so by association, you feel crazy too. That's really frustrating. That's one of the things I hate in crime dramas or mysteries. It always makes me feel so uncomfortable. Does anybody have that feeling too?

As if there wasn't enough information and twists thrown at us during this first episode, they had to go and add bloody John Winchester to the mix. It made me forget all about the conspiracy and the murder plot and the frustration. I was in heaven, and yes I am objectifying him but damn is that man sexy. I really hope Molly gets to have sex with him, it will make things better. While we're in that dark room with Winchester, for a minute, the atmosphere made me think of Blade Runner. I liked that grittier, less polished side of Extant. I am glad Molly finally found a new ally that seems trustworthy and loyal. The enemy is definitely not clear yet but two things are for sue: Julie is out of her mind and has taken over project crazy pants let's-make-terminators, and the alien kid is now an alien man who has it easy with the ladies. In the end, the premiere of Extant was mind blowing, dropping bombs at every turn and setting the scene for what can only be a thrilling season. Hopefully, the pace will slow down a bit so we can appreciate the storyline and the mystery, and not get used to sensationalism. When a show sticks to the latter, normal episodes seem boring and I do not want that to happen to this great sci-fi piece. I read that the showrunners are dropping entire subplots and are going for a more action-driven vibe. Let's hope they do not over do it.

Terminator Genisys - At least it was better than Jurassic World

I went into Terminator Genisys with no expectations. I have never seen a Terminator movie, I kind of shied away from them as I was a bit too young to appreciate these older movies. I never can stand the pace.

After seeing Jurassic World, I believe even Jupiter Ascending would have looked good to me. First off, the acting was definitely better than in Jurassic World and I did care for the characters I saw on screen. I might have even shed a tiny tear when Sarah had to see Pops blow up near the end.

I knew nothing of the Sarah Connor's story myself so it was a bit confusing at first. I felt like I was watching Inception all over again. I tried to make sense of it all every time they were explaining the different time travels but I gave up half way and just enjoyed the movie for what it was. I was completely missing parts of dialogue and scenes because I was in my own head trying to figure this thing out. I am not sure it completely makes sense, but I was able to put that aside to stay in the moment and take in the action. I am still a little bit frustrated about this aspect of the movie though since I love a good storyline and chronology is one of the thing I look for in a story. I am a sucker for history and I am fascinated by dates. I sometimes pause shows or movies that use flashbacks so that I can think about it, make sense of the timeline and then move forward. The fact that I couldn't make sense of the timeline in Terminator was a little bit annoying but I am now going to search the web for answers and better understand what I just saw.

Sarah Connor's story might have been confusing, but her personality was pretty straight forward. Emilia Clarke is a fabulous actress and I think she did a great job here. She was never off mark but I found that she didn't totally embody the Sarah Connor I was hoping to see. I wanted to see badass. Even though she was somewhat believable, I wanted a more kick ass Sarah Connor. Arnold was great and nailed it though, which I believe he did back in the day too. I thought the younger version of him was phenomenal. Kyle Rees was your typical testosterone jacked army wise ass but he embodied it perfectly and I don't see anything wrong with having characters that stick to a successful recipe. John Connor was not likeable in the slightest, which I am assuming, was the goal. I think I remember watching something, it must have been the trailer, and seeing that John was a machine. I thought that was a bit disappointing to know this piece of information beforehand and I would have loved to have been surprised along with the characters. In this case, they showed a little too much in their promotional material and it ruined the best twist of the movie.

At the end of the day, Terminator is an action flick and at that it completely succeeded. The chasing scenes, the robots shootings, the hiding and pouncing. Everything was well executed and I was entertained by it all. Were they moments I rolled my eyes because it was cheesy or predictable? Of course. But it wasn't as obvious or annoying as it was in Jurassic World. It was well written for an action fare and the one liners hit most of the time. Obviously, it wasn't Avengers quality but I am pretty sure fans of the first movies were pleased with what they saw. Some people in the theater did definitely enjoy it more than I did. They were older, laughing at everything and throwing "oh!" "ah!" every time someone said something on screen. It was hilarious. I guess they were the right audience for it. I found Terminator adequate for an action movie and good entertainment.

Close to the end, something made me jump off my seat though. The hologram. The blue hologram. The blue child hologram. Mass Effect anyone??? I felt like they used the same voice too.

Falling Skies Final Season premiere - Summer is truly here

Sci-fi and fantasy are my favorite genres so I have always had a soft spot for Falling Skies. It is a little bit on the low budget side, the effects are kept to a minimum but the story is compelling and the characters are as relatable as they are extraordinary. For the past 4 years I have been looking forward to the summer TV because of Falling Skies, and in another style, So You Think You Can Dance. So far, the latter has done nothing but disappoint me so the summer TV rests on Falling Skies' shoulders (and Extant).


We kick off the final season with another one of those dream sequences tailored for Tom Mason. I feel like we have been starting the past 3 seasons that way, or at least we have had so many dream/mind game sequences that it's not surprising anymore, or even intriguing. And again, the main character finds himself stranded and separated from his family and allies, trying to find his way back to them. I feel like I have seen this many times before too and I was a little bit disappointed with the first few minutes of this premiere. However, I am very glad we are starting things right after the season 4 finale as I could not handle another time jump crap like 2 years ago. Tom is obviously trying to find his way back to the camp and he hears his dead wife saying "find your warrior". I don't really get this as Tom has always been a warrior and a fighter in the past seasons. It's not like he's been lying around doing nothing. He has been brave and pretty bad ass. Anyway, in all of about 30 seconds, he gets back to the hold, just like that. Planet Earth must have shrank pretty significantly if you can fly a ship to the moon, fall off the sky, land in the water in the middle of nowhere and still be about 2 miles away from your departure point. That's some pretty mad crashing skills right there. Pope is even pointing this shit out and although his main point was that Mason won't die, it still highlighted the whole situation as unbelievable. That's a little bit too easy in my opinion too, but let's move on. A little further in the episode, they try to explain how Tom got back when he is reunited with his family. It seems that this latest vision and how Mason got back home is actually the mystery of the season.

We are reunited with Maggie and Ben, which are my favorite characters, and being a girl, I love a good, "against the odds" love story. Maggie is a great female character that kicks butts and Ben had "powers" from the beginning, plus he's cute. I always wanted these two to be together and I am glad they're continuing the love triangle story line into this fifth season. As usual, this episode features a strategy meeting and a mission, which, unsurprisingly, is a trap. I do not understand Mason's vision just yet and I am kind of pissed he killed the overlord as he perhaps had some insight to share. Obviously, some important questions remained unanswered: Who has led Tom to the high school? Anybody else thinks Lexi is still alive? and more importantly, what kind of ending was that? A bug bite? That's how you are ending an episode? I was half expecting this whole 40 minutes to be a dream when I saw the bug. I am glad that was not the case, I would have been mad.

This first episode definitely was intriguing by the end of it, even though the beginning was a little choppy and overdone. I am glad they are taking the fight to the Espheni and I am glad to see more of the Ben/Maggie/Hal intrigue. All in all, it wasn't a bad start to this finale season.