Second Look - Moana

When I first watched Moana in 2016, I will admit that I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at the time, but I did at least like it enough to get a copy on Blu-ray to watch it again in the future. Although the Blu-ray went untouched for years, the arrival of its theatrical sequel on Disney+ gave me an excuse to revisit the movie, as well as re-evaluate it for more than just the animation. After watching it again for the first time in nearly a decade, I found it to be far better than I remembered it being. Barring maybe Encanto (which I thought was okay), I would even go so far as to say it was Disney’s last good animated movie in years.

Stubs - Blade

Blade (1998) starring Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson. Directed by Stephen Norrington. Screenplay by David S. Goyer. Based on characters created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. Produced by Peter Frankfurt, Wesley Snipes, Robert Engelman. Run time: 120 minutes. Color. USA. Horror

Before there was the MCU and before the X-Men franchise got off the ground, there was Blade. Not the first Marvel adventure into films, there was a Captain America serial in 1944, and, of course, the misfortunate Howard the Duck (1978), but unlike that film, Blade showed there was money to be made from adapting comic books for the big screen.

There are other firsts for Blade that often attributed to other films. As an example, it was the first comic book film adaptation to feature a Black superhero, not Black Panther. And the first comic book adaptation to receive an R rating, not Deadpool.

Sherlock Gnomes

Much like Romeo and Juliet, the famous detective Sherlock Homes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has seen many adaptations and reinterpretations over the decades since the character's creation. In this sense, reinterpreting him as a garden gnome seems equally inevitable, coming in the form of a sequel to the box office hit Gnomeo & Juliet, titled Sherlock Gnomes. Much like Gnomeo & Juliet, Sherlock Gnomes is a movie I had avoided seeing for the longest time because of negative reception and an advertising campaign that failed to impress me. After finally watching Gnomeo & Juliet, however, I decided I may as well give the sequel a watch to complete the experience, and while I did think it wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting, it was still a major step down by comparison.

Sonic Unleashed (PS3)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic Unleashed.

Back in 2005, Sonic Team had conceived a third Adventure entry called Sonic World Adventure, though development wouldn’t start until after the critically panned Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (Sonic ’06). As development continued, with no set completion date and coinciding with the creation of the Hedgehog Engine, enough innovations distinguished the game from the Adventure style, including the addition of Sonic transforming into a “Werehog” during nighttime, that the title changed to Sonic Unleashed (Unleashed). Additionally, the game saw two separate builds in active development, one for HD consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) and one for the previous generation (PlayStation 2 and Wii). Both builds of the game would launch to mixed reception from fans and critics, with more favorable scores given to the PS2 and Wii builds, though Unleashed would gain more of a cult following over the years and now has a more positive reputation than before (though this opinion isn’t universal).

As for my own experience with the game, I remember getting excited for it after the disastrous Sonic ’06 (which I may still review in the future) to the point that I played the free demo. Upon playing it as a sixteen-year-old, however, I found myself getting stuck too often because, quite frankly, I sucked at it and had a hard time finding certain items to continue very far in the game. Seeing that the fanbase had warmed up to it more, however, made me curious enough that, right after I finished Sonic Colors: Ultimate (Colors), I gave Unleashed another chance. Now at about double the age at which I had played it initially, I found myself liking it a bit more and I could see some of what fans liked about it. However, as it dragged on, I found that the final design had also held itself back from reaching its full potential, no thanks to its technical issues in the final stretch, the Medal mechanic and, most of all, those Werehog Stages.

Gnomeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet, one of the most well-known English language plays of all time, has inspired and influenced countless stories and received countless adaptations of its own. Since the setting doesn’t really matter for telling this story, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would have the idea of reenacting it with garden gnomes, as is the case with Gnomeo & Juliet. Although the film didn’t have the smoothest development, starting life as an Elton John passion project rejected by Disney until Miramax (under the same company) greenlit it in 2006, it did see the light of day through Disney’s Touchstone label (following a distribution shuffle) in 2011 to middling reviews, but a profitable box office run that earned nearly $200 million against a $36 million budget. In the years since, I had avoided watching the film based on the somewhat negative reputation that it and its sequel had developed. When I finally watched it through a 3D Blu-ray, however, I actually found it at least a bit more entertaining than its 55% Rotten Tomatoes score would suggest.

Project Shoreline

While the “Simulator” genre is not new, one of the more successful takes in recent years has undoubtedly been the Square Enix-published Powerwash Simulator from 2022, which has inspired similar titles based around different occupations with similar core gameplay. This brings us to an indie platformer from 2024 called Project Shoreline, which was brought to my attention through my Steam recommendations. Due to physical health circumstances after playing PIO (as well as a particularly difficult stage in Astro Bot), I wasn’t sure about playing it at first since it was a platformer, but later decided to give it a try upon making a connection with the gameplay of Powerwash Simulator (and also the fact it was free). After managing to 100% the game while playing with a much more comfortable DualSense controller, I came away wanting more from its surprisingly fun and relaxing combination of elements.

Stubs - Mata Hari (1931)

Mata Hari (1931) Starring Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone. Directed by George Fitzmaurice. Screenplay by Benjamin Glazer, Leo Birinski. Produced by George Fitzmaurice, Irving Thalberg (uncredited). Run time: 92 minutes. Black and White. USA Drama. Espionage.

While the film Mata Hari is based on Mata Hari’s life, hers is a bio that flies in the face of the Production Code that the Hays Office was there to enforce. A one-time exotic dancer, Mata Hari was known for using her sexuality to get men to do her will, which was supposedly giving her military secrets. Thought to be a double-agent working for both France and Germany during World War I, she was eventually executed for her treason.