MOVIE REVIEW: SUICIDE SQUAD (2016)

Suicide Squad starts poorly, has a few isolated moments of mediocrity before ending poorly. It once again proves how much the DC cinematic universe tries to take shortcuts. It has all the markings of executive meddling as they try to follow the “make-it-fun” formula.

Suicide Squad follows the story of Amander Waller. She puts together a team of bad guys who are meant to take out meta-humans (like Superman) if they go bad. And this is where the dumbness starts. What on earth is Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn or Deadshot meant to do against Superman.  I am not sure and the movie never bothers to try to explain it either.

Their first mission is then a self-created problem (stopping the Enchantress and her Brother). Here are where the moments that try to pull it up to mediocrity. There is a scene at a bar where the characters actually have some personality and interaction. The first fight scene shows people using their skills and abilities. And the scenes with the Brother always make him feel like a threat.

But every time that the movie threatens to find its feet and be mediocre instead of awful, you get the dumb parts. The Joker’s scenes are forever annoying. Him and Harley Quinn mostly remind me of the people that try far too hard to be eccentric, with the I’m So Random tag thrown in. El Diablo deciding he wanted to fight was unexpected and shocking. The great scene from the trailer where Harley steals a bag, stating they are bad guys, feels like it was cut and thrown in so randomly it feels like whiplash.

This all feels like it was cut to make it fun. Suicide Squad feels like a mess. Where they should have made a dark comedy movie, they tried far too hard for a fun movie. The DC Cinematic Universe once again falls over into a pile dog faeces, after everyone had such high hopes. I guess DC once again waits for the next movie before becoming at least mediocre.

1 out of 5 Suiciding Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: DR STRANGE (2016)

As (I believe) the last major sueprhero movie release of 2016 and touted Marvel's most ambitious project to date (although I think that is arguable at best), Dr Strange ends up being a pretty good way to finish the superhero year. However, the movie is marred by some of the imperfections which have started to become common in the Disney Marvel cinematic stable.

Dr Strange follows the story of, well, Dr Strange. This feels like a step back in the Marvel universe, but a good one at that. This feels more like an Iron Man origin story than a galaxy-threatening story. Dr Strange is an arrogant surgeon, he can't do surgery anymore and instead becomes a sorcerer after learning some lessons which lead to him stopping the bad guy. Al

In fact, the story is very simple. However, it seems to be in such a rush to get to the big set-piece battles that Dr Strange's education and character development seem a little rushed. I am not sure if they cut some scenes out but I could have done with less big battles and more introspective moments of him learning magic and humility.

If they cut out one or two battles (no spoilers but I have two definitely in mind) for some more learning time, I think this would have been one of the best movies Marvel has produced. As it stands, it is just really good and I am looking forward to exploring the Sorcerer's universe more.

4 out of 5 Strange Looking Waffles

MOBILE GAME REVIEW: REBEL SKY (2016)

Rebel Sky is a semi-unique game that I played. It is a free fee-to-play game that is a mixture of real-time strategy and lane attack/defense (similar to Clash Royale). It does some nice and interesting things but, full disclosure, I have already uninstalled it.

In Rebel Sky, you choose a commander from one of three factions (Marines, Junkers and Robotic Angels or something like that) and then build up a deck of units from your faction and mercenaries. During a battle, you cycle through this deck and use energy (like elixir in Clash Royale to deploy your units). Once deployed, they march towards the enemy, attacking targets and the enemy base until they or the opponent die.

The first interesting thing is how you deploy your units. You can either deploy straight out or construct as a factory (takes 30 seconds) which would then spawn a unit every 30 seconds. It is an interesting choice for instant units versus long term gain. The other interesting change is when time runs out, it comes down to last unit standing. All this would make you think that the game would be interesting.

However, the progression and paywall hit this game way too soon. After unlocking some basic units, the rate of unlocking slows down to a crawl. When you keep facing higher end units, and you keep trying to use the weaker mercenary units to plug the holes in your forces, it starts to grate. Although, like with Clash Royale, you can mitigate this with skill to a certain extent.

For those who don't mind paying and advancing on the semi fee-to-play, then this game is a unique game I have played that has an interesting mix of mechanics. However, the paywall came far too soon for me and the grind was too much.

3 out of 5 Rebellion Waffles

MOVE REVIEW: MAGNIFICENT 7 (2016)

The Magnificent 7 is a remake of an old western which is a remake of an old samurai movie. The original movie is considered a classic, and the new movie is quite long. The question is if the new movie is any good. The quick answer is: yes, it is really good.

For the sake of brevity I won't bother comparing it to the originals but let it stand on it's own merits. In this, Denzel Washington is a bounty hunter (warrant officer) who gets involved in a battle against a mining magnate who is trying to take over a town and killing people in cold blood. In his quest, he recruits 6 other highly-skilled men to help take back the town.

Of course this is achieved through violence. And the cast does not disappoint. All the seven are really good and get their own personality and style of fighting. They also all have their demons and pasts, but this movie doesn't make the mistake of dwelling on these. Instead, it simply alludes to them and keeps the movie going at a good pace.

The gun fights are where the movie is best, but the movie recognises that having weight behind each shot is what makes them stand-out. The only weak character is Chris Pratt, but this is because the writers rely on him to get by on his charm and maybe give him slightly too much screen time compared to the others. This is not the fault of the actor, but outside of one random line about being haunted (which isn't followed through by his actions), the character he plays is perhaps the weak link in the movie.

However, even with this weak link, the rest of the movie is exceptionally strong. This is definitely a movie worth checking out and not just another remake relying on nostalgia. Yee-ha.

4.5 out of 5 Gun-slingin' Waffles.

BOARDGAME REVIEW: NAME OF ODIN (2016)

NSKN Games have released a game that seems to be in the latest in a spate of Odin games recently, In the Name of Odin. Funded off Kickstarter (as per most their other games), this game probably best exemplifies this studios strengths and weaknesses.

Name of Odin is primarily a euro-type, card-driven hand management game. You recruit Vikings and heroes, build a settlement and go on raids in order to get victory points. Everything is very abstract as you quest for points, but the theme really comes across from the artwork on the board and the cards looking suitably Viking-ish.

This game is a really pleasant game. There isn't really any player blocking or griefing other players as you instead focus on building your hand and settlement up to achieve points. As the cards are multi-use, you constantly have choices at to how play your turn. This leads to the game having a simplicity as you can plan your turns ahead but a depth as you have to constantly think how your hand can get you points this turn and set you up next turn (and whether you should sacrifice for this).

Unfortunately, the problems stem from what appear to be late design changes. The Viking minatures don't quite fit on the storage spaces (suggesting they might have been cubes at some stage). There is no player color marker on your player boards and no player aides (considering there are 9 different actions you can take, this is a critical oversight). And the end game can mean whoever takes the last raid ends of on negative points for lost raiders (suggesting points for leftover raiders was a late addition).

These are a real sham because the prototype copies reviewers had (i.e. Rahdo) had player aides and scoring tracks on the player boards (so you know who you are). I really like this game and the options it represents. It makes me think (like their other games) if a professional developer could've made this game great (more playtesting after the final changes to pick up these issues). As it stands, it is merely a very good game that perhaps highlights the dangers of Kickstarters for talented but smaller companies.

3.5 out of 5 Raiding Waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: SCYTHE (2016)

Scythe is one of the big releases of 2016 and much anticipated. Set in a mech-filled world, each faction on the map is trying to take over by earning the most points (of course) by completing a bunch of different tasks.

The key to Scythe is effectively setting up your engine and trying to hinder your opponent as much as possible. The main form of hindering involves combat and blocking. Each player has a faction (with differing actions) and a hero (with differing powers) and some nice, unique looking mechs (which start the same but can have different powers).

The end game is triggered by completing 6 objectives (winning a fight, getting all your workers out, a hidden objective). At the end of the game, a bunch of stuff is scored with differing points based on your popularity. It all feels very prescribed and the point of the game is efficiency (as most Euros are).

Scythe is a brilliant game. The upgrade system (you move a cube and voila, an action is cheaper and more effective),  the combat system (with combat being a resource), the prescribed starting positions with each faction mitigated by the way each faction can break the movement rules (submerging for that game winning play behind enemy lines) is great. Combat is not all-encompassing but it is there and is a good tool to get rid of expansionists.

It is not a perfect game. It isn't quite the sandbox. Also, some of the objectives feel very forced to shoehorn making certain options viable. Finally, sometimes the whole thing can feel a bit heartless (especially rushing towards an arbitrary objective to trigger the end game). But compared to the good and how fast playing it is, these are minor quibbles.

4.5 out of 5 Riverwalking Waffles

MOVIE REVIEW: CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE (2016)

The Rock Dwayne Johnson and Chris Rock bring us this latest comedy offering. Being a pretty basic "buddy-cop/reluctant-partners" type comedy, this movie has the slight twist that the Rock is a buddy cop and Chris Rock is a reluctant-partner. Trying to mash together these 2 tropes, Central Intelligence does entertain but comes up feeling quite empty.

Dwayne plays a former bullied school kid who has turned into a CIA agent. The former School Captain Chris Rock is now living life as a middle-management accountant (after being voted most likely to succeed). Dwayne needs some help and goes to Chris Rock. However, other forces are also after Dwayne to bring him in.

This movie pretty much puts the two main characters in a bunch of situations and relies on them doing what they do best. Chris Rock is a fast-mouthed, reluctant hero cynical of allot of stuff. Dwayne Johnson is a bit of a muscled oaf but deadly underneath his apparent jovial demeanour. And their are a bunch of inside jokes about their careers and past roles.

However, after all the jokes, the movie just feels hollow. There is no real character arc (apart from a mid-life crisis which doesn't really go anywhere). At the conclusion, apparent arcs get resolved without any kind of resolution and the whole idea of the story just feels like lip-service. This movie entertains, but doesn't really satisfy at the end of the day.

2 out of 5 Undercover Waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: MONSTER MANSION (2015)

Monster Mansion was a Kickstarter project that is based around escaping a modular-board within 10 minutes/player(real time). It also has a hidden player role mechanic, unique characters with different stats, and different monster decks for different experiences.

The basic gameplay is that every turn, you draw from the Monster Deck (which may be a monster that follows you around, a curse/blessing, or nothing). Then you take one action (moving or attacking or healing). And then your turn ends. This continues in real-time until you escape or the time runs out (and you all die). Once you reach the exit, you need to roll 5+ on a dice to actually escape.

This game suffers from a lack of direction. There is definitely allot going on (modular board, character powers, hidden roles, time-based gameplay) but it just feels like you are waiting and reliant on your monster draw. You draw weak monsters or nothing, you advance to the exit. You draw strong monsters, you are stuck attacking, hoping not to die. And some of the random roles and cards are harsh if you fail (immediately losing 3 health when you only tend to have 4 means you are often a monsters meal next turn) to increase the difficulty.

But at its heart, this feels like a roll-and-move game, just replace the rolling with random card draws. Maybe with the steady hand of a developer rather than the excesses of kickstarter this idea could've been made allot better. At the moment, most the game just comes down to hoping to draw good cards (with no way to manipulate too much) and hoping for the best. This game doesn't offer too much extra from other games (Zombie 15 immediately springs to mind). The components, however, are really cool.

1 out of 5 Monstrous Waffles

ANIMATED MOVIE REVIEW: JUSTICE LEAGUE: THRONE OF ATLANTIS (2015)

Justice League: War was an animated reboot of the Justice League that I really enjoyed. It did have its problems but for the most part, I thought it set up an interesting premise for the new Justice League. And then Throne of Atlantis realised the worst of its potential.

Throne of Atlantis is set after War and the formation of the Justice League. It starts with Cyborg acting less human and getting rid of some of his human parts. This amounts to absolutely nothing and has no bearing on the story at all. Also, his doctor is also his love interest. This is another problem as every female character is depicted as a love interest to a Male Character (Wonder Woman and Lois Lane for Superman; Aquaman’s Atlantean protector) who end up getting with the guy as part of the quest rewards.

Anyway, this movie has allot more issues than being completely chauvinistic. Aquaman is a super-powered person getting drunk and talking to fish (one-way) and getting into bar fights. The Atlantean prince wants to wipe out humanity. He kills his mother, steals here trident and frames surface dwellers for it. How he frames her is never explained as an Atlantean knife is used to kill her and there were no surface dwellers around at that time.

Anyway, this magic trident is apparently much more powerful than the whole Justice League combined, except for Batman. Everyone also acts like brainless brutes, except for Batman. Batman has to lecture them through a crime scene. And yeah, the whole movie is a Batman-love letter as he seems to be the only one capable of thinking. And he is the leader of the Justice League.

Spoilers: By the end of the movie Aquaman accepts his heritage (taking his Atlantean guard os his queen) and has a trident apparently more powerful than the whole Justice League put together (which makes them redundant with him on the team). This complete change of character is presented through so much disinterested voice acting and pretty average animation that it all feels phoned in.

Don’t even get me started on how the Justice League slaughters Atlanteans who were tricked into war, the Atlantean army being immune to guns and the army but can be taken down by a normal person hitting them with a club, or how Aquaman develops powers as the plot demands.

This animated movie is horrible. It is Batman V Superman bad. Don’t see it unless you love Batman and can’t bother waiting for Goth-Movie-Aquaman.

0 out of 5 water-soaked waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR (2016)

Two movies in a row focus on heroes versus heroes. One of these was the most insulting, boring movie I have seen in a long time where the definition of hero is stretched to capture Batman and Superman whose reception encouraged reshoots for Suicide Squad. I think this other one proves why Marvel is currently on top of the game.

Set in the Marvel Universe where we have had 10+ movies to build the world and the each character, Civil War aims to tell an epic tale. However, what makes it so good can't be talked about without spoilers. So from here on out there are some very non-specific spoilers.

Civil War starts with a brawl with a super villain on international soil. A mistake from the Avengers leads to some civilian casualties, which leads to the superhero registration act. This is a much more defined but also defendable document than the comic book equivalent. Circumstances force Captain America and Iron Man to go on opposite sides with their teams of allies to help fight it out.

This movie starts and ends on a very personal note for all the characters. Although it seems to be building up slowly to another global threat, it pulls the rug out from under all the characters feet to make the final conflict very personal. Although it never really solves the superhero registration act problem or provides a conclusion to it, that is really not the point of the finale.

Civil War is 2.5 hours and covers allot of ground. Some things miss but allot of things hit. Spiderman is awesome. The fight scenes are awesome with the best stuff outside of the trailers (although that stuff is pretty good as well). Spiderman is awesome and all the characters feel great. Even the sides there on don't take huge leaps in logic.

That is even leaving out the great fight scenes. This is a great movie with a really good story and action. After the disappointment of Batman V Superman, this was the correct way to do a superhero vs superhero movie. Make the stakes personal with believable reasons to make them fight.

5 out of 5 Revolutionary Waffles

MOVIE REVIEW: JUNGLE BOOK (2016)

 The Jungle Book by Disney was a new movie for me. Not being familiar with any of the previous works, comics or movies about this, I went into this thinking it was about young Tarzan. On an aside, Tarzan was a preview played before the movie and it looks like Avatar on Earth (so very so-so). So is it any good?

 Well, the answer is yes. But also it could've been better if they took a few more risks. The story is about a young boy abandoned in the woods who is raised by some various animals. A tiger has it in for him due to his past experiences with mankind. So the boy has to run in order to not die. On his coming-of-age journey, he has to learn (and teach others) that being himself is not bad.

 The movie is good. Although the child actor used for the main character could learn to have a bit more range than blindly screeching everything to show anger, the movie doesn't make him too grating. They also show a pretty clear character arc for most the characters. Unfortunately, the lead actor here once again has the weakest arc (pretty much involving people telling him what is okay to do and never really changing or learning that much).

 The main parts that don't really fit in are the songs. One song is not too bad, but the Gorilla breaking into song as they are trying to build up his threat really broke the tone of the movie. Especially as the song was half-comedic and sung really light. But both songs didn't really match the darker tone they gave to this whole movie (he nearly gets eaten by a snake and the violence is graphic) and felt like they were trying to appeal to kids who would still have nightmares about the rest of the movie. So yeah, could've just left them out.

 The other part is doesn't really fit (especially after the excellent Zootopia) there is isn't much effort to show different animals interacting outside of just giving them different human traits (Mob boss, con artist). However, this isn't consistently bad and the water truce is well done. Oh, and someone should show the wolves the Transformers How It Should Have Ended movie ("We fight together. Don't leave me alone with a psychotic tiger especially when it is against the whole Law of Wolves I teach you daily.").

 Overall, the movie is pretty good. It is not as good as Zootopia but it is definitely several big steps are above average. I felt that the songs should have been cut and a better child actor could've been better, but definitely worth watching.

3.5 out of 5 Stalking Waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: CODENAMES (2015)

Codenames has been the party-game darling from the end of last year. Done by the same guy who has done Mage Knight (Vlaada Chvatil), this game is at heart a deduction-word game for large groups of people.

In Codenames, you have a set of 25 words arranged in a grid. Each belongs to either one of two teams, neutral or a single assassin (which is instant loss, to discourage random guessing). Each team (or if <3 players, one team) has a spymaster who gives a clue and number that relates to the words on their side. It goes each way until one team wins.

This game is an awesome party game and filler. The addition of the assassin is great to keep tension throughout the game. It is pretty easy to pick up for allot of players. There isn't really that much to say about this game. It is great and simple and really good to bring out with a full range of players (people who don't play to really experienced gamers).

However, its strong points are also some of its weaker points. The rules are simple, but that means that players keep trying to twist them. Every game has had people not able to keep quiet and just let the game go. It isn't that hard to know that the spymaster can only give one clue and if the clue is a dud (a homonym that wasn't spelled out, a word no-one knows the meaning of), it is a wasted clue. This means that the choice of spymaster is very important, and I already have a list of people I don't want to be spymaster.

These problems wouldn't be that bad, but the game is really quite fun and engaging so it is sometimes used as more than just a filler. When this turns into the main gaming event of the night, having these problems continuously happen during the night quickly sours the game experience. At the end, I would still prefer to play this with smaller groups (and 2 and 3 player works really, really well- even better than competitive in some respects) and definitely not as a main course.

Codenames is a great little game. It is at its best with smaller groups and used as a filler. However, this game is mostly a victim of its own success. The problems mostly stem from their own success (it tends to stay out too long and people keep trying to bend the rules) that is currently holding it back in my opinion.

3.5 out of 5 Hidden Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: BATMAN V. SUPERMAN- DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016)

Spoiler: Perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen.

Dawn of Justice (2016) somehow manages to be more boring, more offensive and ultimately just worse than Man of Steel on so many levels. At the end of the movie, I felt equal parts rage and just being absolutely bored by the DC movie universe. Somehow, this manages to even triumph over Fantastic Four as literally one of the worst movies I have seen. I am thinking of taking the Linkara approach and calling them Steve and Ray instead of Bruce and Clark as there characters sucked so badly. I give fair warning that this review will be more a stream of consciousness as I think of things that annoyed me. Oh, and Spoilers.

The Civil War trailer was awesome. It looks like it is a Captain America movie through and through (despite having every superhero in it), unlike this movie where it is more about Batman and Wonder Woman and Lex not shutting up than Superman. And it looks like it is doing hero vs hero right. It can't disappoint me. But compared to this, one decently choreographed fight scene would be good.

The movie is 2.5 hours. 2 of these hours is spent trying to contrive a reason for Batman and Superman to fight and also teasing Wonder Woman and a Doomsday/Revised Zod coming out. When Wonder Woman comes out, it is treated like a big triumph (complete with music) so sure as heck is not earned (apart from DC not doing it for so long). She is a character that stands for nothing and has no motivations (apart from a little bit of exposition towards the end at Superman's funeral to give the most bare basic of motivations). And her motivations is that she is a scared girl.

This is universe building at its worst. For every Avengers, Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man that are 100% awesome from marvel, you need things like Amazing Spiderman 2 or X-Men Days of Future Past where the universe is used as an excuse for the movie. This is corporate profiteering. But the best parts of this are the equivalent of the worst parts of Amazing Spiderman. This makes Man of Steel look mediocre (a HUGE upgrade) and Avengers: Age of Ultron to be a timeless classic (making the first Avengers something made by God for us poor mortals). At least they don't have Lex not shutting up for every scene he is in.

This movie is a mess. Parts of it are randomly narrated by Batman, part of it dreams and part of it from another point of view. And it is all stupid. People blame Superman for an alien race trying to take over the planet instead of, you know, Zod. Superman spends allot of it being angsty. They all figure out it is Luthor halfway through and proceed to do nothing about it. There is a big build up about the governments decision about Superman only for it to literally mean ABSOLULETLY NOTHING. This is like Avengers if the whole movie was just the fight between Iron Man, Thor and Captain America in the forest and the rest build-up.

There are some parts I liked. Bruce Wayne racing through Metropolis while buildings collapse from Zod and Superman fighting is cool. Superman saving Lex from Doomsday without hesitation was cool. Superman flying Doomsday to space was cool. But every part of this was filled with even more idiot ball moments. For example, Bruce is mad at Superman because one of his buildings collapsed killing his employees, but they don't evacuate (despite seeing the terraforming engine) until Bruce rings them to tell them.

And then EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER TAKES A GIANT IDIOT BALL. The fight between Batman and Superman pretty much involves Superman inhaling poisonous gases while somehow not getting away with his super speed and reflexes and senses until Batman beats him up. Batman is a stupid man who nearly kills the symbol of hope for NO GOOD REASON. Lex Luthor just won't shut up while he is trying to be annoying. Clark's mum tells him he shouldn't help anyone. And I wish Nolan, Snyder or whoever is in charge of this mess gives up their love affair of having Batman beat up Superman. And since when did Batman have visions in his dream. Wouldn't that be more suited to Wonder Woman if anyone.

From the very first line in the movie (some quasi-philosophical-sounding-but-garbage-when-you-think) I leant over and said this looks shit. And I was excited and wanting it to be good. The trailers had me believing they would do something. Instead, I could write a Film-Crit Hulk style essay about just how much they get wrong. Henry Cavill is a decent Clark but bad Superman. Ben Affleck is probably the best with his horrible lines. And won't Lex Luthor just shut-up already.

There are other characters that ultimately mean nothing. Seriously, I hope everyone pirates this movie. I hope everyone involved get out of the film industry. This makes Phantom Menace look like A New Hope. I am struggling not to just go through scene by scene and just highlight why this is all so stupid and pointless and tiring. I want this to flop. I hate to think how much they can stuff up Suicide Squad or Justice League. I don't have too high standards (I liked Sucker Punch), but won't Lex Luthor please just SHUT UP.

0 out of 5 Despairing Steel Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (2016)

Jumping onto the Cloverfield name, 10 Cloverfield Lane had a troubled production. Beginning as a separate movie, the script was modified during pre-production with the inclusion J. J. Abrams  and a franchise. It also had an marketing campaign that relied on the mystery box and very little hype (as opposed to Superman, which we know nearly everything about).

This movie is good. The less you know about it the better going into it as it relies on keeping you guessing and throwing out red herrings. The story is fairly simple (watch the trailer to see what it is about). However, the tight script and characters make it all come together good.

The acting is good. Each of the characters bring believability to their characters as people you would meet on the street, or at least expect to exist. Their isn't any particular evil chessmasters or super-hero types in the story, which actually works to its benefit.

The camera work and music is also good. Shot mostly in a single locations, the music and shots serve to emphasise that you only know as much as the characters. It also tends to match the mood, with stressful moments having claustrophobic close-ups while wide, open-type shots used when the stress levels lessen. This really helps pace the movie with quiet moments making the stressful moments feel even more impactful and preventing audience burn-out.

It is hard talking about the story. All there is to know is that it all works and comes together well. The acting and directing is really good and the movie is a low-ball success.

4 out of 5 Kaiju-Waffles

MOVIE REVIEW: REVENANT (2016)

Revenant is the latest offering starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Set during the frontier years of the colonisation of America, this movie is a very deliberately paced revenge story. Pretty much, Tom Hardy kills Di Caprio's son and now he must track him through the landscape for his vengeance.

If the story sounds simple, that is because it is. The drama in this movie isn't set-up by a convoluted story full of twists and turns, but by the characters themselves. The story sets up all of their prejudices and motivations and then lets things unfold, for the most part. And it isn't just the characters standing against each other, as the very landscape and the locals all have their part to play.

The landscape in this movie is stunning. The shots and the music are their to support the view of the landscape and how unforgiving and harsh this is. From snowy expanses to raging rapids, this film goes out of its way to show different bits and pieces of the landscape. Occasionally, the story does feel like it takes  backseat just because the filmmakers wanted to show some shot.

When the story takes a backseat like this, the film can really start to feel like it drags out. There are definitely times that it feels like parts of the movie could have easily been cut and not lost anything on the revenge story. Their are allot of subplots in the movie and, although they all kind-of come together, they don't really have a big impact on the story.

So overall, The Revenant is good. It does run long and it could have done to be a bit tighter of a story experience. However, it did set its own deliberate slow pace which for the most part works.

4 out of 5 freshly hunted waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES (2015)

Dead Men Tell No Tales feels most like a pirate-themed version of Pandemic or Operation: Flashpoint. And while it certainly feels like it borrows/steals allot of the mechanics of these games, it definitely puts it's own unique spin on the formula that makes it an engrossing experience.

Telling the story of a band of pirates who have defeated a cursed ship in combat, the story starts as you are trying to loot treasures off the ship. With a very real ticking clocks of both a sinking ship, burning rooms and swarming deckhands, there is real feeling of pressure mounting as you are trying to co-operatively get the required number of treasures.

The components in this game feel a bit subpar. While the artwork is beautiful, some of the tokens could have been better. For example, the cardboard tokens for the cursed crew could have been tokens, and their could have been exploded rooms for the starting areas. Even the artwork sometimes gets in the way of seeing the doors clearly. However, all the components are serviceable.

The actual gameplay involves exploring the ship to find guards and kill them to get a certain amount of treasure. This is new compared to Pandemic and Flashpoint which don't have combat to them. The rest of the mechanics feel similar, with deckhands replacing virus' and the fire building up then exploding to nearby tiles similar to flashpoint. The other new mechanic is how damage works, with fatigue being used for combat damage and to move into burning rooms, as opposed to straight-out dying. These couple of extra elements makes the game feel allot less alpha-player than Pandemic and Flashpoint can feel, with your actions not always feeling dictated by others.

Overall, Dead Men Tell No Tales is an engaging experience. The only real downside is that some of the components could have been a bit better for this game. Apart from that, I heartily enjoy raiding a burning ship to try and get my loot out in time.

4 out of 5 Sunken Waffles

MOVIE REVIEW: NOVEMBER MAN (2016)

November Man is a spy-offering starring Pierce Brosnan. Following the exploits of an American spy agency in Russia, it weaves an web of twists into its story. However, despite the twists and turns present in the story, it failed to resonate.

November Man begins in the past with Pierce Brosnan acting as a decoy and his protégé shooting someone who tried to take him out. Flash forward and Pierce Brosnan is ordered to extract a Russian official who he has a history with. However, he appears to be acting rogue and then has the CIA chasing him as he attempts to sort out his mess.

At the end of the day, November Man is passable. November Man's main failing is that it you can both see the twists coming but at the same time the twists don't emotionally resonate with the story. For example, Brosnan is quite happy to sacrifice an innocent girl to test a theory (fatally wounding her to test his ex-protégé's reaction) but is haunted by the collateral damage of one innocent bystander. The actual twists and double crosses also fall back to familiar cliché's about who is behind it all.

At the end of the day, the story is just a miss. For less running time, you could watch an episode of Burn Notice and probably enjoy it much more. The idea is good but the writers should have been a bit more risky with how it all played out.

2 out of 5 Calendar Thumbs Up.

ANIME REVIEW: HUNTER x HUNTER (FIRST 15 EPISODES)

Hunter x Hunter is a really good show so far. It follows the story of a group of students (Gon as the main character, a 12-year old boy) as they go through an exam to become Hunters (an elite police force). During this trial, they are put to the test by the examiners and other students. Oh, and there are giant monsters and magic powers.

Hunter has a good cast of heroes, a villain who they are building up well and an interesting story premise. The characters are an interesting mix of typical tropes with twist and humanity to keep them interesting and wanting to see where they go. Even the side characters have unique powers and looks to make it interesting.

The animation is also beautiful in this. The colours and fighting is vibrant. Although there is some teleportation style combat, it fits in with the theme of the show. Everything about this show is nice. It is highly recommended and I hope it continues to be as good for the remainder of the series.

5 out of 5 Hunted Waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: TINY EPIC GALAXIES (2015)

The third in the tiny epic series of games (kingdoms and defenders were the first 2), Tiny Epic Galaxies takes players into space to see them conquer the galaxy. It does this by, once again, using a totally new system than the previous two games. This time, dice are involved.

In Tiny Epic Galaxies, each player gets to roll a certain amount of dice and get actions based on these dice. These include flying ships, earning resources or trying to colonise a planet. Once a player has earned enough victory points, the game ends. Any goal cards completed are then scored and the final victory points are scored to see who the winner is.

At it's core, this game has a push your luck mechanism with rolling dice. Do you spend resources to re-roll or try to make do with what you have. Even though there are no real bad options, there are definitely better options depending on which planets you are exploiting. The other consideration is that opposing players can follow dice that you have used on your turn. This introduces a bit of gamesmanship (sometimes) and maybe makes you second guess using a valuable action (especially in a 2-player game).

Although it is a tiny game, there is allot of thought needed for each move in this game. Player interaction isn't very high in the base game (as it effectively is each player racing individually) so opposing players turns can be slow. This is a problem when the game goes to 4 or 5 players (but even 3 players if the players take turns slowly). This means that the game often overstays its welcome as a short game (probably by 5-15 minutes), but there is a nice sense of escalation as your empire becomes more powerful.

There is also no real way to attack other players (past some planet abilities and following) in the base game. Fortunately, the Satellite and Superweapon expansion adds in Superweapons that you can use to give more direct confrontation between players. If direct confrontation isn't your thing, than you can just leave them out as well.

The components for this game are excellent. However, the player mat should definitely be larger (or I might scan and print a larger one out on some good card stock). Larger boards can fit in the base game and the player board is so cluttered that I would have preferred it to be larger and clearer, with maybe bigger resource trackers as well. But you get cool sheep meeples and custom dice so all good.

This is a solid game. However, the small player mats and the slowdown of the gameplay on other players turns means that it is not quite an excellent game, but it is solid.

3 out of 5 tiny epic waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE GOOD DINOSAUR (2015)

Pixar's latest animation offering is The Good Dinosaur. It is promoted as exploring what would have happened if the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs didn't happen and dinosaurs and humans co-existed. In reality, it doesn't really explore this question at all.

The story follows the child of some dinosaur farmers. One day, a human child appears and scares him. This indirectly causes his father to die. When the human child shows up again, the dinosaur chases him and gets lost in the wilderness. While he is the wilderness, he meets new friends and enemies and must learn to conquer his fear.

This movie is a solid movie. it shows the characters developing (mostly). You follow the journey of the dinosaur as he learns to overcome his fear. The human child is not really developed much, being instantly trusting of the dinosaur. Also some cool characters (such as the triceratops) are put in and never show up again.

However, this movie never really does anything risky. It treats dinosaurs as part of an old west type society (farmers, ranchers, scavengers) with no real twists on the formula. The human child acts like a dog. It might be that they wanted to play it very safe to make this a holiday movie for the family.

It has to be said that the animation and landscapes are superb, with sounds to match. The Pixar team also did a very good job on the dinosaurs. They really thought about the difficulties in how they are meant to do some things without hands and show some inventive ways of how they do things.

In conclusion, this is a solid movie with some beautiful animation and sounds. However, the actual story behind it is very generic. If you replaced the dinosaurs with humans, you wouldn't have lost much in the movie, which is unfortunate.

2 out of 5 prehistoric waffles.