AEW All Out Predictions

By: Justin Hopkins

They just had to add another match to an already stacked card. I can’t even complain that much, cause of course I will gladly take a Ruby Soho match. With that said, lets skip the small chat and jump right to it shall we.

Eddie Kingston vs Tomohiro Ishii

Oh what brutal fun this should be. A rematch that should be an excellent watch and that I believe that Eddie should get the win for.

Winner – Eddie Kingston

FTW Championship – Cool Hand Angelo Parker vs Hook (Champion)

This feud has been fantastic, but that isn’t really surprising due to who is involved. Hook aint losing and we still have the Daddy Magic fight to get to.

Winner and still FTW Champion – Hook

AEW All Atlantic Championship – Kip Sabian vs Pac (Champion)

This one is quite difficult to pick from. Pac could maintain. Still early in his reign, but I think it is more important that Kip gets the win here. Been waiting with a box on his head for around a year. This could be the first step in something much bigger for him.

Winner and new All Atlantic Championship – Kip Sabian

AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship – Ruby Soho and Ortiz vs Tay Melo and Sammy Guevara (Champion)

Ruby and Ortiz… Serious, refuse to pick against Ruby.

Winner and new AAA Mixed Tag Team Champions Ruby Soho and Ortiz

House of Black vs Darby Allin, Sting, and Miro

Normally, would be a bad move to go against Sting, but Story wise, Miro can blame them for the loss and continue the story more if his team losses here and continue to build toward the single match against Black.

Winners – House of Black

Ricky Starks vs Powerhouse Hobbs

I can see a non finish happening here. A DQ or time limit draw. Something to build the heat and keep the feud going to a lights out match. For the sake of picking one of them though. Can see Powerhouse getting the win while Ricky putting in a valiant effort.

Winner – Powerhouse Hobbs

Christian vs Jungle Boy

Speaking of lights out potential. This feud had been devastatingly brutal with the war of the words between them. They got it set up perfectly for Luchasaurs to break bad and turn against Jungle Boy.

Winner – Christian

Wardlow and FTR vs Jay Lethal and Motor City Machine Guns

I am really excited for this match. I have always heard about how good Motor City Machine Guns are, but have never actually seen any of their matches before. With FTR on a run of a lifetime this year and Wardlow added to it and I am all here for it.

Winners – Wardlow and FTR

Bryan Danielson Vs Chris Jericho

This should be a fun match. All for the love of Daniel Garcia, but got to go with the American Dragon for the win.

Winner – Bryan Danielson

Casino Ladder Match – Claudio Castagnoli vs Rey Fenix vs Rush Vs Penta El Zero Miedo Dante Martin vs Andrade El Idolo vs Wheeler Yuta vs TBA

This is going to be carnage and I have no idea. None what so ever. TBA could be anyone from Darius to MJF and Eddie Kingston is right there. Perfect to set the main event at Grandslam and how can I pick against Claudio…Fuck it….

Winner – Eddie Kingston

TBS Women’s Championship – Athena vs Jade Cargill (Champion)

So, I am in two mindsets here. Athena poses as a serious threat to Jade’s undefeated streak. Could easily take that belt off Jade and gives Jade the lane to move up the the Women’s Championship. You could keep Jade undefeated, but since Tony is being a Jackass when it comes to giving women more time on the two shows to build more threats, who knows how long it will take to get another threat.

AEW Trios Titles – The Elite vs The Dark Order and Hangman Adam Page

You know what, I am going to take a risky pick here. The Dark Order deserves more love then they have been getting here, and you can tell the story that Kenny just couldn’t shake the ring rust and while I am going about this as if Adam Cole would be ready by Grandslam, it would be a great ammunition for him to use against Kenny to set up the match.

Winners- The Dark Order and Hangman Adam Page

Interim AEW Women’s Championship – Toni Storm vs Jaime Hayter vs Hikaru Shida vs Dr. Britt Baker

This match can teardown the show. Can make a case for any of these four to walk away with the belt. While Toni seems to be the favorite, going to go with Jaime. Think this could be huge for Jaime and can set up a massive feud between her and the Doctor for the gold and if she wins that. You got yourself an even bigger star.

Winner and new Women’s Champion – Jaime Hayter

AEW Championship Match – CM Punk vs Jon Mox (Champion)

Keep saying it and eventually going to be right, right? CM Punk heel turn, off the back of Cleveland booing him when he thought he had reinjured his foot. Only question is if he can pull off the impossible. Austin couldn’t pull off a heel turn in his hometown. Can CM Punk turn heel in Chicago. While still walking away with the belt.

Winner and new AEW Champion – CM Punk

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!!!!

Firestarter 2022 Review

By Paul Anthony

I have to admit that I don’t know much about this franchise. I know there was a previous film and it’s based on a book that was written by Stephen King, so there is no judging this from the previous film. So, we know this film is a remake, this film was made from a budget of 12 million dollars and so far, has grossed 6.2 million but keep in mind it is also streaming on Peacock. The film stars Zac Efron as Andrew “Andy” McGee, Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Charlie McGee, Sydney Lemmon as Vicky McGee, Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Joseph Wanless, John Beasley as Irv Manders, Michael Greyeyes as Joh Rainbird and Gloria Reuban as Captain Jane Hollister. Production on the film started last May and ended in July and the score composed by John Carpenter.

Right off the bat the film starts with a baby Charlie in her crib and her parents’ saying goodnight to her but then once they left the room Charlie begins to catch her toys on fire which Andy runs back and saves her from the fire. We then roll to the opening credits which informs us that Andy and Vicky were a part of a trial in which they took an experimental drug called Lot-6 which unknown to them that it would give them supernatural powers. Andy gains telepathy and Vicky obtains Telekinesis though we learn after the credits that Vicky doesn’t use her powers where Andy uses very often, which we learn causes him nosebleeds and we learn later in the film that is a true side effect of the drug. We now move forwarded in time and Charlie is 11 and dealing with bullies at school which is making her having outburst with her powers. Her outbursts cause the agency that gave her parents their powers to take notice and track them down using another superhuman named John Rainbird. But when Rainbird arrives at their house, he only sees Vicky because Andy and Charlie are out because there was a previous argument in which Charlie by accident burned her mother. Vicky tries to overpower Rainbird using her powers that she hasn’t used in years but proved to be no match in the end for Rainbird. Just then Charlie gets home with Andy and Rainbird holds Charlie at Knifepoint which Andy uses his powers to trigger Charlie’s powers which burns Rainbird and allows them to escape. While on the run they encounter a Man named Irv who takes them in but the next Day Irv who called the cops on them after he watched the news, Rainbird shows up and Andy uses his powers to allow Charlie to run away as he battles Rainbird which works but Andy is captured. At this point we know the Agency wants to kill Charlie because she is a byproduct of their drug that they have no clue what she is capable of since she is born with her powers from their drug. Once at the agency Rainbird who is locked up as well tricks Charlie into believing that her father wants her to come to the building and save him and destroy the building. Which she does in full angry mode of sorts, and she leaves a path of destruction in her then she sees her dad who uses his last push which kills him to give Charlie the extra boost she needs to kill everyone in the building. Rainbird who is free now waits for her to kill him which she begins to, but she stops and after she learns that he is just like her and that she is alone in this world now, in the end he carries her off as the agency burns to the ground.

Now at face value this movie wasn’t bad, I did enjoy the sound to it and honestly enjoyed everyone performance in this film. I don’t think this was a weak link, yet I didn’t think anyone stood out of the pack either. I felt they didn’t do enough with the Rainbird story arc to make any child in a fit of rage to spare his life after all just days ago he killed her mom. Another miss for me was Captain Jane Hollister which when she was on camera, she would steal the scene but making her into a coward at the end ruin it for me. In the end I thought this movie was just average and because of that I am giving it a C wasn’t bad just wasn’t good.

Top Gun Review

By Paul Anthony

Next month Top Gun 2 is coming out and I am planning on seeing it, but something occurred to me and that was that I never got to watch the first film and well I have a free moment in the schedule, I wanted to take a day to review this film. Now last few days, I had to think about this because I feel like there are two Tom Cruises. The young Tom and the older Tom, now the older Tom takes movies and make it about him, as to where younger Tom was just a movie star in the 80’s. This film was released in May of 1986 and starred a good cast which included Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, and Kelly McGillis. Now this film was produced from a 15 million and managed to make a 357 million dollars. Now In 2015 the United States Library of Congress selected the film the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, because it found it to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The film also won an academy award for best original song for Take My Breath Away which was performed by Berlin. Now before most critics gave this film mixed reviews but praised the performance of Cruise and McGillis. Now Let’s start talking about the plot.

Here in this film, we LT Pete Mitchell AKA Maverick, and his Radar Intercept Officer Nick Bradshaw AKA Goose right off the bat we see Maverick as a cocky but talented fighter pilot but during one mission him and goose and their wingman Cougar have a mission, but Cougar basically chokes, and Maverick saves the day, but Cougar gives up his wings which opens the door for Maverick and Goose to join the TopGun program. Once there, Maverick becomes loved and hated but mostly hated by Tom “Iceman” Kazansky who is the top student of the program. Through the film, we see Maverick fall for TopGun Civilian Instructor, and they develop feelings for each other, at the same time Maverick forms a rival with Iceman and each compete for the top spot until one day an accident happens when Maverick gets in Iceman jet wash and flames out but during the ejection a malfunction happens, and goose hits his head hard and killing him and Maverick is cleared of any wrongdoing but nevertheless he feels the guilt of losing his best friend. Maverick does graduate from the program but doesn’t win the award for the best but shortly after graduating they given a mission which Maverick serves as Iceman wingman. However, during the mission Iceman and Hollywood which is another top pilot are ambushed and Maverick is sent to help at first, he seems like Hes going to abandon the mission but, in the end, saves the day as an award maverick can select his next location and job and he decides to become an instructor for the TopGun program.

Now, we have a young tom cruise which back than he wasn’t making movies that were all him. Which help each character shine in their own right. IceMan Val Kimer took each scene that he was in and he made people know that. Though his screen time wasn’t as much as Tom’s he still took the spotlight when he was on the screen. The story was basic because you knew right off the bat that Maverick in the end was going to come through. Lost of Goose midway through the film was a good touch because it gave us a chance to see how close these characters were. The jet’s were the main source of action and it was a thing of beauty to watch them. The problem is for me, we could have had more jet fighting rather than the love story aspect. Don’t me wrong the movie needed emotions but the love story was a waste when they could have gave us more Goose and Maverick. In the end I am giving this film a B or 80 percent. Its above average but not great!

Jack Reacher Movie Review

By Paul Anthony

Last week, on our podcast we decided to review the first season of Reacher which was on Amazon Prime and we gave it raving reviews and in fact Justin can’t watching it to this day. Now because of that, I thought it was time to take a look at first Jack Reacher film that stars Tom Cruise which came out in 2012. Now I have seen this film before but it has been a long while and I am talking about years here, so in order to do this blog, I know I needed to rewatch the film , so I did! Now prior to this film there was no attempts at making a film based on the novel series, since after all the novel series just started in 1997 and seemed like no studio really wanted to buy the film rights until 2005 when the book One Shot was released and by 2010, the ball started to roll and by 2012 the film was released based on One Shot, but the film was simply called Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise was cast as Reacher, but the fan base didn’t enjoy this casting, mostly because of the height difference, in the books Reacher is 6’4 and Tom Cruise is 5’8. Now he was surrounded by a star studded cast which included Richard Jenkins, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, and Robert Duvall. Now let’s start with the plot!

We first seen the crime take place though we don’t know who it is, and we don’t know why but we do see a person killing 5 people, the police investigate and soon we meet a former sniper James Mark Barr and he is taken into custody, is offered a choice of life in prison or death but all he writes down is Get Jack Reacher. Here we learn Reacher is a drifter but was a major in the Military Police and makes it, Hes not interested in clearing Barr’s name because of their past and what Barr has done before just interested in the truth. So with Barr’s lawyer they begin to start this wild goose chase and break down all the information and deal with the true people involved which is gang led by Zec who was a political prisoner. In the end Reacher gets to the truth but not without taking a few bodies down with him and the film ends with Barr waking up from his coma and admitting to the shootings that he did but is still clear of the charges meanwhile Reach gets on a bus and sets his sights on the road again and the film ends.

Now let me start with Tom Cruise because he seems to be the biggest problem of the film. I do agree that he should never have been cast as Reacher because of his height. Reacher’s height is also one of his best physical defense because no one wants go up against someone with that muscle and height. Now also Reacher doesn’t show much emotions and Tom as big name actor has to act more than the character because he is a big name actor. Going away from the roots did hurt the film. The action and story wasn’t on track with each other just seemed off. Now I am not saying it was a boring film or even a bad film but it wasn’t something that to me was going to stick out and because of that in the end I am giving this film a C for grade or 75 percent!

AVP Aliens vs Predators: Ultimate Prey Audiobook

By: Justin Hopkins

**SPOILER WARNING**

I was thrilled to see this drop on Audible. Was a massive fan of Alien: Bug Hunt and thrilled to see Jonathon Maberry coming back for Aliens vs Predators. I love the Yautja (Predator) and will always take them and the Xenomorphs being brought together. Now, that I have listened to it, multiple times, lets dive in, but just like before. I will do my best to skirt around any major spoilers. Do my nest to talk about the stories within without blowing anything major.

**Synopsis**

Ultimate Prey brings us Stretching from the old west to current day. On fierce foreign planets and deep space voyage in far away futures. Characters finding themselves caught in a timeless fight between extraterrestrials. One, running solely off of instincts. The other, bound by pride and honor of the hunt. While many, are unsuspecting. Dealing with something much larger then themselves. Others, are aware of the situation, but everyone will be digging down deep within, to find out how far they can push themselves and finding allies in unsuspected places.

**Review**

Going into it, was most excited for the Yautja and coming out of it, they were my favorite part. How much we got a deep dive into their lifestyles and actions. How much honor and pride they take, in not just the Hunt but their every day lives. the differing opinions they have on humans and how, not only did some of them change based around their encounters, but how they changed the people they were around.

A lot of the writers did something interesting. Which was done in the movies, but did click for me here and that was how different people reacted when dealing with a Yautja vs when they dealt with a Xenomorph. How scared and filled with terror a xenomorph they’d get when encountered by their more animalistic ways. While, their was base level of fear when staring at the Yautja. There was a morbid curiosity, in the foe that more resembles them in a way. More fear would tick in when the mask came off, but by then curiosity had already set in. This was not all the time of course, but was interesting when this did play out.

Loved the callback and references some utilized, such as the Raid on Area 51 event for the basis of their story. Bo’Kui being the ancestor from the Yautja from Drug Wars, in Predator: If it Bleeds anthology. A sequel to Predators and Scott Sigler bringing his world from Aliens: Phalanx back. Fun moments for people who have been following along and great way to get people to go back and enjoy what came before.

I loved the complex character work they bring us throughout. Abuse victim finding the strength to stand up for themselves. A trans character, who had been poisoned and left for dead on a planet in the middle of the battling species. Finding an unlikely ally, who is in a similar situation. On the flip side, you have Yautja’s who are coming to light with issues of their own. Broken pride and honor running deeper then they thought. All of which elevated the stories over just being about the hunt.

Alright, shout out time. Everyone killed it. Standing ovation to Jonathon Maberry and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Again, can’t imagine how hard it was to narrow this down to fifteen and getting just the right placement. All of the writers did amazing. Pouring so much love and care into their stories and they would be. Even the couple, I was not a fan of, were still good. Just compared to the rest of the lot kind of fell flat. Starting with, Chris Ryall, Steven L. Sears, Delilah S. Dawson, David Barnett, Mira Grant, Susanne L. Lambdin, Jess Landry, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Yvonne Navarro, Curtis C. Chen, Roshin “Rush” Bhatia, Maurice Broaddus, E.C. Myers, Scott Sigler, Jonathon Maberry and Louis Ozawa. We got to call out the narrators as well, being an audiobook and all, and they did an excellent job breathing life into their characters and stories. Starting with, Bradford Hastings, Nicol Zanzarella, Stephanie Weeks, Feordor Chin, Timothy Andrés Padon, Soneela Nankani, Chelsea Stephens, Hilary Huber, Erica Sullivan, Sura Siu and Shiromi Arserio.

My Favorites

3. Abuse, Interrupted 2. First Hunt 1. Blood and Honor

This was a blast of an anthology. From great character work, deep dives into the Yautja and some terrifying moments with the Xenomorphs and some peeks up their own hierarchy. The pacing was perfect and even the ones I didn’t really take to I would listen to again. Just because I had such a good time in general. Check it out if you haven’t. Final Grade – S

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!

AEW Revolution 2022 Predictions

By: Justin Hopkins

AEW PPV are always hard to try and predict, for the best of reasons. You can make an argument on nearly every match on who should walk away with the win. While at the same time. A spicy story waiting the one who doesn’t at the same time. Revolution is staked with blood feuds, match of the year candidates and overall fun matches on paper. Stifled with potential from top to bottom. So, lets pull out the tin foil hats and try and predict the show shall we.

Hook vs QT Marshall

We will start with the softball choice here. Hook is the man. Riding a wave of momentum that isn’t stopping now.

Winner – Hook

Kings of the Black Throne vs Death Triangle and Erick Redbeard

The reason this didn’t go up yesterday. Had a feeling they weren’t done and they gave us this six man. With the return of Erick Redbeard to sub for the injured Fenix and glad to see him. This will be a fun match on the Buy In and while it could go to Death Triangle and Redbeard. House of Black need it much more.

Winner- Kings of the Black Throne

Leyla Hirsch vs Kris Statlander

Well, easy choices gone now. Kris took the first match, which is what kicked off this rivalry and sent Leyla to the dark side. Both of these two are incredible and could be top of the division in no time. Could have Leyla win to lead to a more brutal rubber match. Kris is teasing showing another side of her. With the orphan comment could be teasing a double turn, but Leyla just turned…. More words to try and stall. Can’t even go with my heart cause I love them both… Screw it..

Winner – Leyla Hirsch

Andrade El Idolo, Isiah Kassidy and Matt Hardy vs Sting Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara

Before Rampage. Believed it was going to be a slam dunk. Win for the good guys and set the table for the Hardy Boy reunion. Now I am not to sure though. They could have Matt Hardy wonder off. Doing the erratic thing still. Make it appear it’ll go the way you think. For Darby and Sammy clash from what happened on Rampage. I am going to go for that actually.

Winner- Andrade El Idolo, Isiah Kassidy and Matt Hardy

Eddie Kingston vs Chris Jericho

There is a universe, where Eddie loses this match. Sending him into a bit of a spiral. Having to regroup and think about what he wants. Finding his motivation and coming back and going on a tear to the belt. Getting the emotional moment of winning the Championship. In this world, Eddie is winning this one, and starting the momentum to the Championship now.

Winner- Eddie Kingston

TBS Championship Match – Tay Conti Vs Jade Cargill (Champion)

While Tay could make for a good choice in giving Jade her first loss. It might be too soon. Jade has continued to improve by leaps and bounds and really making this run just what this belt needs. Not quite the time to pull the plug on it.

Winner and still TBS Champion – Jade Cargill

Face of the Revolution Ladder Match – Keith Lee vs Wardlow vs Ricky Starks vs Will Hobbs vs Orange Cassidy vs Christian Cage

Sweet Death how am I suppose to choose. Match is just going to be awesome. Some much destruction. People are going to be launched left and right. Can never sleep on Orange. Hobbs can make a break at any moment. Twenty Twenty Two can be the year of Starks, Christian is a legend, and how can one not bask in the glory of Keith Lee. Keith Lee is a difficult choice to go against, but We got Wardlow. The wave of momentum is really starting to pick up and story of him and MJF is simmering. Match is going to be insane, but at the end of the day, going with….

Winner – Wardlow

AEW Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match – reDRagon vs Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express (Champions)

It is coming due for a heel team to collect the tag team belts. That won’t be tonight thought. the reDRagon Young Buck story doesn’t need the belts. Think they are going to cost themselves the match and the belts stay where they are.

Winner – Jurassic Express

Bryan Danielson vs Jon Moxley

Hey, another match that I have no idea where it can go. Think the American Dragon is going to get the win after a hard fought battle. Setting up not just the team, but the fallout later and Mox finally getting the win he has never had after a long drawn out story.

Winner – Bryan Danielson

AEW Women’s Championship – Thunder Rosa vs Dr. Britt Baker (Champion)

This story can go in so many ways. I genuinely have no idea which way they can go. Going to go the way that sets up a rematch at St. Patrick’s Day Slam the easiest and most interesting.

Winner and new Women’s Champion – Thunder Rosa

CM Punk vs MJF Dog Collar Match

What a fucking feud. The promos and interactions have been nothing short of legendary that will be looked back on in, how to set up feuds, for years to come. It doesn’t feel right to go against him, but an MJF loss would send him spiraling against Wardlow and Punk could move on. Tired of the distractions and wanting his title shot.

Winner – CM Punk

AEW Heavyweight Championship Adam Cole vs Hangman Adam Page

I refuse to make the obvious joke. This match has it’s work cut out for it, to follow everything we have seen this far, but if anyone can do it. Think these two can. Don’t see Hangman’s time come to an end just yet and Cole can take his first loss.

Winner – Hangman Adam Page

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!

DC Forever Evil Deck Building Game

By: Justin Hopkins

I have a lot of love for Deck Builders. Ever since I started picking up the hobby. Gravitated toward them right away cause of my love of cards in general and lead me to buy my first deck builder, Resident Evil Alliance and had a blast with it. Adored the cards and way the gameplay was. So, much so, that I was quick to pick up a new one, in the form of DC Forever Evil. A game where you play as one of many DC Rogue Gallery to take down the Justice League. About all it took to sell me on it. With us in a brand new year and desire to mix up what I talk about. Couldn’t think of anything more that I wanted to then this, so with that said, let’s dive in shall we.

Gameplay

The game starts up with you picking your oversized Supervillain and passing out the cards to 2 to 4 players. Consisting of 7 punch cards and 3 Invulnerability one. That is your deck. In the middle of the table, with the top five spread out in a line, making up the lime-up. With a vertical stack next to it. Stack of Kick cards on top, weaknesses on the bottom, and stack on Superhero Cards in the center. Should have at least 8, but can add any up to 12, or more in some cases. Shuffle them up and put them facedown, except for The Flash. He always lines up first and face up. From there you are ready to begin. Shuffle your deck of ten, and draw five. Count up how much power in your hand. Total being how much you can spent one the line-up, buy a kick, or if you have enough, take out a superhero. You can spend up to the number of power or less in your hand. Say if you have 9. Can spend up to or less than nine. Once your turn is over, any cards you used, acquired or still in your hand goes into discard pile. Replacing any empty spot in the Line-up that you took, so as to always have at least 5. If you beat a Superhero, that card goes to your discard as well. Keeping the next one in line, until the end of your turn and everyone resolves their First Appearance attack and move on to the next person in line. Play continues till there are no more Superhero cards left or you cannot make a Line-up consisting of five. Collect all of your cards and count the Victory points in the bottom left side of each card. Along with any Victory Point Tokens you have acquired along the way. Highest number wins. In case of a tie, the players who has the most Superhero cards is the winner.

Review

I have had such a blast playing Forever Evil. At this point, my favorite Deck Builders and top three favorite games in general. It can start off a bit slow, as Deck Builders do, but things pick up very quickly, because this game gives you so much to do. Setting up on-going cards, location cards, destruction cards to get rid of negative ones and Vulnerabilities and defensive cards. You still need to collect Power, because once Superheroes start falling it can go quick from there, but these cards early on, will not only go a long way to help in that cause, but also protect your stuff from your friends.

One of my favorite aspects of this game is how much it values being on offense. Not just with going after Superheroes, but messing with other players around the table. Being a general nuisance and screwing up what they have built and have in there hand. Freezing cards in The line-up that you know they need, sending ongoing cards back to their discard to a card that will allow you to commander any ongoing cards they have and use them for yourself for a turn. As trolly as all of this sounds, and it can be, there is legitimate strategies to run with this style. If you don’t have enough power to take a Superhero down, and you are worried they might. Any one of these moves can buy you another round to try and get the cards you need.

Forever Evil almost welcomes expansion packs to be added and I have added more then a few. The likes of Birds of Prey, Arrow and a few others to make a bit of a chaotic deck. Adding new ways to play, dynamics, cards to play as, and go against. A long with a rather tricky Rotation Mechanic. Really making each game feel unique and different from one another because of the way you chose or character you are playing as.

Forever Evil is a fantastic game, with some beautiful cards, and a ton of replay value. It is a game with a lot of different strategies to play around with, and never feels like you are sitting around waiting for what you need to start making progress. Easily lends itself to add expansion packs to flesh out the game more. Definitely makes me want to check out bigger box sets like Teen Titans and Heroes Unite. As far as Forever Evil goes though. Would gladly suggest picking it up yourselves and giving it a shot.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!

Aliens: Bug Hunt Audible Review

By: Justin Hopkins

**SPOILER WARNING**

So, I was a bit hesitant going into this one. With anthologies, you can get some good stuff, but have to sypher through a slew of bad to get to them. Kind of mixed on the idea of the Colonial Marnie’s taking point. Sure they were fun, but thought it might get bland following them throughout 18 stories. But, I do love me some Xenomorphs and the idea that they would be mixing in some new aliens and strange tales was enough to sell me on giving it a shot. Before we do the dive in routine, let me say one thing. I was really torn on how to do this. Debated on breaking this up into multiple bits, but that would cause me to go more into spoilers then I care to. So, I will break it down as a whole. Things you can expect and go into more detail on a few later down the line at appropriate moments. Sparing the big twists and turns when I can. Okay? Okay, sounds good. Let’s dive in shall we.

Synopsis

As it says on the back of the book, we got 18 stories from across the Alien Universe. Following mostly Colonial Marines, some new, such as Corporal Sykes and London to some names we know, like Hicks and Hudson to name a few. Along with a few others who are in desperate fights against Xenomorphs, other alien creatures and various messes created by the always wonderful Weyland-Yutani. To stories that diverge straight into very strange, very bizarre direction that I respect way to much to give anything away and as short as this is, where I am leaving off for the time being.

Review

Lets get the shoutout and round of applause out of the way. First one going to Jonathon Maberry. Can’t imagine how hard it was to narrow it down to these 18 stories, but to get it in the right order to keep the pace moving along at just the right pace. Then you get the authors, Paul Kupperberg, Dan Abnett, Rachel Caine, Yvonne Navarro, Christopher Golden, Matt Forbeck, Ray Garton, Weston Ochse, David Farland, Larry Correia, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Brian Keene, Heather Graham, Mike Resnick and Marina J. Lostetter, Jonathon Maberry, James A. Moore, Scott Sigler, and Tim Lebbon. Can tell they really care about this universe and put some serious thought into their stories and they weaved some really fun stories. Since we are dealing with an audiobook, we got to give the narrators their roses as well, James Anderson Foster, Eric G. Dove, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Nicol Zanzarella, James Patrick Cronin, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Andrew Eiden. Michael David Axtell, Grover Gardner, Priya Ayyar, Peter Berkrot, Emily Sutton-Smith, Hilary Huber, and R.C. Bray. A audiobook lives and dies on narration and they all did great. Even when they were more monotone then it might have should. Somehow works for the story in question and adds that much more to it.

What really helped out was just how different each story was. Mixing up the plots from rescue missions to scientific research. Worlds that were at peace before chaos broke out. In some cases we got to listen to the carnage breaking loose to being dropped right into the middle of it. From Xenomorphs and different variations that a Xeno’s impregnated, I will never get the words, Blue Moon Centipede out of my head, and just different alien lifeforms in general. Making each story feeling fresh and exciting. But that wasn’t the only way they kept you on your toes. Good endings were not a given and at anytime, heroes could fall and some, there were none of those to be found.

While we got plenty of new and interesting characters and settings. When they did go to the well of characters and places we do know. They handled them with care. Really showing there love of them as a whole. Which is good in some of their cases because they got real bold in some of these. Like in, No Good Deed. Which is in my top three favorites from this set. Along with, Dark Mother, played it real gutsy and both of them worked.

Then we get to the weird ones. Dangerous Prey, Episode 22, and to a point, No Good Deed. No Good Deed not going to far off, just a character, but the others go way off the wall compared to the rest of the stories. Dangerous Prey, did it beautifully. My favorite of the lot. Catching me completely off guard by what is happening and just hanging on to every moment of it. On the flip side of that, was Episode 22. On my first listen to it, when not much a a fan. Have warmed up to it, but still not really for me, but that doesn’t make it bad.

None of these are bad stories. They can take Alien: Bug Hunt and use it as the script for an awesome show on any streaming service. Sure I didn’t like Episode 22 or Dark Mother as much as I did, Zero To Hero or Hugs To Die For, but they are not bad in the slightest. Episode 22 could easily be someone else’s favorite very easily, just not for me, and that is why I will gladly suggest anyone to check this out. There is a ton of fun things to appeal to not just fans of the movies, but those who just like Science Fiction in general. Final Grade – S

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!

Whose Your Spider-Man?

BY Paul Anthony

I had been wanting to do this blog for a long time now but decided to wait until we were out of the spoiler zone for the Spider-Man fan base. We now know that Spider-Man: No Way home is killing it at the box office even when it finally dropped to second place it is still making money, even as this blog is being typed. We saw both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return as Spider-Man. Which shocked the world in some ways because there were so many rumors regarding the both of them. We of course now know that everyone came back, and it made me wonder who I consider my Spider-Man to be? Afterall, I have seen all the modern Spider-Mans. However, before my time there was one actor who played Spider-Man for the television movies from the late 70’s to the early 80’s. His name is Nicholas Hammond and if you have seen his films then you might consider him your Spider-Man and if you do than that is fine but since his films weren’t in the theaters sadly, he won’t count for this blog.

we will first start with the first of them all and that would Tobey Maguire who was cast as the hero in the summer of 2000 and even manage to beat out the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Freddie Prinze jr, Chris O’Donell, Jude Law, Chris Klien, Wes Bentley, Health Ledger, James Franco, Scott Speedman and even Joe Manganiello. Though James and Joe would still be cast in other roles. Nevertheless, Tobey won the job and filming was set to begin in November of 2000, it got pushed back to January of 2001. Though we didn’t have insight to contract details back then we do know he was offered 3-4 million and higher salary for two sequels. In this time frame there had only really been a few successful comic book movies outside of Batman and Superman. No doubt this was going to be a challenge. Now it’s lifetime the film managed to gross 825 million dollars and managed to spawn two more films with Maguire starring as Spider-Man. The series ran from 2002 to 2008. At this point we had nothing to compare to Maguire’s performance as Spider-Man because there really wasn’t another Spider-Man. Sadly we never got a Spider-Man 4 for a number of reasons regarding contracts and creative direction, at this point the series that was a big hit was left for dead. Until just four years later a reboot came out titled The Amazing Spider-Man.

Here we now had a new actor taking the role from Maguire and that was none other than Andrew Garfield who got the role just two years after Spider-Man 3 came out. Now the film was released in the summer of 2012, and it seemed like that film series wanted to show Peter Parker true intelligence by having him design his own web shooters which did go more towards the comic book. This film series wanted to keep Spider-Man in high school though he was already 17 and in his junior year. At first, I know was bitter about the reboot, I so bad wanted to see part 4 and not see a reboot but I have to admit Garfield sold me on it. His performance gave us a nerdy but funny Peter Parker and a Spider-Man that truly moved like a Spider-Man. two years later we got the sequel and it seemed like that Maguire/ Spider-Man was a thing of the past. Though Sony failed to learn from their mistakes with adding too many villains and changing Parker’s parents’ deaths and so forth, though the lone bright spot was for the first time on the big screen Spider-Man failed to save Gwen. Now No one knocked Garfield’s performance, but this film managed to become the lowest grossing spider-man film and had very high budget which was around 293 million and you knew what was coming and that was a reboot and another failed ending.

Now at this point just a year later in a shocking turn of events Sony worked out a deal with Marvel to Allow the character to return home as long as Sony gets something out of the deal. This shocked the world because we knew that at this time the MCU was in full swing and killing it at the box office and we knew Sony own the film rights, but we didn’t know was that Sony needed to release a spider-man film every 5.75 years to keep the film rights. The original plan was to find a way to bring Garfield’s Spider-Man in the MCU but both Sony and Marvel agreed to go a different direction and that was to reboot the character once again and truly make a film series of Peter Parker in high school, but they needed a young actor which they found that in Tom Holland who was 17 at the time of the casting to play a 15-year-old Peter Parker which was close enough. Tom made his appearance as Spider-Man in 2016 hit film Captain America: Civil War and Marvel did a good job at introducing him and getting away from the beginnings that we saw Sony do twice, instead we see him, and he has only been Spider-man for 6 months and just been doing the small things well the Avengers fight Aliens from Space. a Year later we get Spider-man: Homecoming, which I loved the title and found it Ironic. This was Tom Holand’s first full film as Spider-Man, and we managed to make it a third solo film and with a bright future and maybe a part 4!! In all Tom has played Spider-Man for 6 films, Maguire 4 films and Garfield in 3 films, the latter two also starred in Spider-Man No Way Home. Now it is time to ask ourselves, who is your Spider-Man?

I catch myself asking that question over and over again and I have to keep breaking things down, since this one a few cases where there have been three actors in one generation which most cases its one actor per generation. Now With Maguire I believe he was the better Peter Parker; he was quiet but innocent at the same time, he was very smart but not enough to brag about it. Him as Spider-Man almost was the same as Peter Parker which goes against the alter Ego situation. Now we have Garfield and his Spider-Man. What stands out to me is when he is under the mask, he seemed to become the spider and his movements were based on an actual spider, we can argue that the technology wasn’t fully there for Maguire to do this but then again that series went away from a few things regarding the comics. Garfield performance as Peter was hilarious with his jokes but sometimes came off as a creep regarding Gwen, it was one thing to be nervous because we all have been there but being a little creepy wasn’t a Peter thing. Then we have Tom Holland. who seemed to have blended the two previous spider-man’s together which might have been the right thing to do? He moves like Maguire with hints of Garfield in it, He does show his intelligence but at times seems to be a fan boy and amaze at the same time, which can go overboard at times and that is both as Peter and Spider-Man, Now the good thing is that the character was able to grow as the series went on which makes me more excited to see where the character goes from here at No Way Home.

Now who is my Spider-Man? Well with watching all three and knowing I am only in my early 30’s, I would have to say now it is Holland because he has the time to keep evolving the character and that is something we didn’t see from the other two. Now Maguire is the OG and no one will take that away from him and Garfield proved he could step out of Maguire shadow and cement his legacy and of course Holland proved that he respected those character of the past. In The end Holland is my Spider-Man, so now who is yours?

My Top 10 Movies of 2021

By: Justin Hopkins

Another trip back down the road. A calendar years worth of movies to weigh with invisible qualities that, only the one putting their list together can see. What movies made them feel something. Happiness, sadness, suspense and thrills. Fan favorites being taken off from the list cause of little tick. Making space for an unpopular one. Making a list that is uniquely your own. Which is what makes them so much fun. To see why they chose they way they did and pick up some that you may have overlooked or missed, because it was easy to do in 2021. So, with all of that said, let’s dive in shall we.

10. Malignant

Style and creativity helps lock down the tenth spot on my list. Despite the fact I gave it a bit of a mediocre grade. Annabelle Wallis did a really good job as Madison. Which went a long way in paying off a climax that stays with you long after the movie is over.

9. Psych 3: This is Gus

I had to. I love this group so much and every time they put out a movie it is such a delight. James Rodriguez and Dulé Hill never fail to entertain. The fight in the bathroom was over the top in the best possible ways and Timothy Omundson can pull on the heart strings with almost ease. A must if you were a fan of the show and check out the show if you haven’t so you can enjoy this one.

8. Spiral

I know, I am shocked to. Had given up on the Saw movies after 3, and was disappointed in that one. This movie was more then just look at the elaborate traps that the series had seemed to fall into. Presenting us with an intriguing story and mystery around it, and while there were a lot of solid performances, Chris Rock is the one that sealed it for me. He excelled in his performance and should stick to the genre for a while.

7. Ghostbusters: Afterlife

This felt like the sequel that should have come out a long time ago. Cast, setting everything was spot on and future looks bright for them moving on.

6. Kate

I love this movie so much. This was such a fun movie. From the fight sequences, colors, music. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was spectacular, by making you care about a character that you know is doomed.. I actually thought it would be higher on the list, but it’s been that kind of year.

5. Cruella

They made fashion war entertaining. Took a character as vile as Cruella and made her a sympathetic hero. Not a small feat, but they managed to pull it off. Of course, having Emma Stone as Cruella, makes it so much easier for them.

4. Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City

The fanboy in me had an absolute blast with this. Loved the changes they made to keep those who know the story off kilter and had they not made Leon a joke. This could have been number 1.

3. The Suicide Squad

Hey look, a dark, mature Comic Book Movie that is actually fun to watch. Margot is still excels as Harley. Idris Elba and Daniela Malchior were amazing additions and can’t believe it took this long to get villain John Cena. Even Joel Kinnaman made us care about the death of Rick Flag and he was awful in the first go around.

2. Spider-Man No Way Home

What can I say that hasn’t been beaten to death the last few weeks. It has everything. Nostalgia, emotional thrill ride, excellent moments and scenes. They took you on a ride throughout and ended on a bittersweet moment. An excellent movie that nearly knocked off the number one movie.. or well movies.

1.Fear Street Trilogy

Is it a cheat putting all three of them together; maybe, but the three work so well together that I can’t ignore them. Had me on the edge of my seat and emotions swinging wildly. Characters that I couldn’t stand and swung wildly the other way and was pulling for them to make it. Cliffhangers that had escalated everything perfectly, and a reveal that was a hundred percent the opposite of what I thought I was expecting. Had me hooked and engaged and they even had great and gruesome kills. 1994, 1978, and 1666 came together and fit together seamlessly and made for a stunning story, and claims the number one spot on my list.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!