Another year, another time to reflect on
what we did and did not like about it. Though my output on this blog has slowed
significantly, you will still find my thoughts on my favorites and
disappointments of the year (out of the handful of new movies and games I
watched/played this year), with review links where applicable, presented in no
particular order.
Top
Movies of 2015
This is truly Pixar’s best effort in a
while, especially after the awful Cars 2 and disappointing Brave. Without
giving anything away, this movie about emotions manages multiple times to tug
at the heartstrings (and when it does, it hits hard); it nearly got me to cry
in a public theater, and after a second viewing at home it still managed to get
to me. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t seen this movie yet to do so as soon
as they can, and if you’re a Pixar fan you will not be disappointed.
I was nervous about what to expect from
this movie going in, especially after factoring in the massive hype as well as
the Prequel Trilogy, but my fears were alleviated upon my initial viewing,
surpassing my expectations to where I feel like watching it again. Without delving
into spoilers, though it’s not perfect, the writing was really good, especially
in regards to character dialogue, and the story took some interesting turns
that I really was not expecting. It doesn’t live up to the sheer amount of hype
in the months preceding the movie’s release, but it is definitely worth seeing
as soon as possible, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan and have managed to
avoid spoilers up to this point.
Dragon
Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
In this canon Dragon Ball movie, the
almighty Frieza is brought back to life and, after he decides to train for the
first time in his life, the ensuing battle against Goku and Vegeta is nothing
short of glorious. There is also a healthy dose of comedy mixed in with all the
action, with humorous situations coming from smaller moments. The animation is
also amazing, doing justice to the style of action present in the series. This
movie is a must-see for Dragon Ball fans, especially after you’ve seen the
other canon movie, Battle of Gods (and/or have read the 9-chapter manga, Jaco
the Galactic Patrolman). It may be a bit harder to go into this movie without any prior knowledge
of Dragon Ball, though Mega64’s (sweded) companion video serves as a humorous summary on some of the major events of the Frieza
Saga.
Top
Games of 2015
Transformers:
Devastation
Platinum Games did an amazing job with
this Transformers game, especially with how it goes all out in matching the
80’s cartoon’s look, style, and sound (they even got a number of surviving
voice actors from the original cartoon, meaning Dan Gilvezan gets to play
Bumblebee again after all these years). I haven’t actually played Metal Gear
Rising: Revengeance (Platinum’s ever-popular entry in the Metal Gear series), but from what
I’ve seen of Rising’s gameplay, I thought that the gameplay style translated
perfectly to Transformers, including the way they incorporated the ability to
transform. There are five playable Autobot characters in the game: Optimus
Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Wheeljack, and Grimlock; I only played through the
game once as Optimus Prime, though I am interested in playing it again later as
each of the other characters, as well as trying to get all those oft-elusive
collectibles.
Skylanders: SuperChargers
Having played the Skylanders games
annually for the past 5 years, I think this is perhaps the best one yet (though
it did come out about a month earlier than usual). The gimmick this time is
Vehicles, and while said gimmick admittedly has one or two shortcomings, the
game seems to require less to get 100% (which is good for me) and items are
made easier to get with the addition of a wishing well in the hub world and
chests in each level randomizing what you get (this includes Soul Gems and
Story Scrolls, the latter of which is presented as pieces of Kaos’ Diary
recorded on vinyl). I have not bothered with the new Online Multiplayer option,
but I can definitely say that the game is more fun with a second local player.
Top
Disappointments of 2015
This is not to say that Age of Ultron is
a terrible movie; I thought it was actually enjoyable and it still had some
good humor in it. However, I found that there seemed to be too much going on
within the overall story and that it could have been either cut down to speed
up the pacing or presented as a longer feature to give the full story. In any
case, while I loved Marvel’s first Avengers movie (I rank it up there with
Spider-Man 2), this one did not feel like it lived up to its predecessor.
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