Grimm: "The End" Review

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After six seasons and 123 episodes, Grimm brought everything to a close in "The End," a satisfying series finale that wrapped everything up in an tidy bow and left fans on the right note.

Full spoilers for "The End" continue below.

After the brutal end to last week's episode, which saw Wu and Hank both killed by the Zerstörer, things weren't looking too great for the Scooby Squad. And though everyone ended up getting a happy ending, it was a smart choice to have Nick lose everything over the course of this episode. In his showdown with the Zerstörer, each of Nick's allies were picked off one by one (though we'll ignore how the Zerstörer magically disappeared after several encounters to allow Nick to mourn in peace).

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The Zookeeper's Wife Review

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The most affecting moment in Niki Caro's The Zookeeper's Wife occurs early on, as the Nazis invade Poland in September 1939. The audience sees this moment as it affects Antonina Żabińska (Jessica Chastain), her family, and their zoo. Bombs fall, some animals are killed, others are set free, and the place is severely damaged. The impacts of the bombs are felt, not just through the bass, but as animals lie there, forever gone.

To this point in Zookeeper's Wife, the film has given almost equal weight to the animals as it has Antonina; her husband, Jan (Johan Heldenbergh); and their son, Ryszard (played first by Timothy Radford and later in the film by Val Maloku). The destruction wrought upon the zoo is something palpably felt in the audience, but it is a weight and an upset that the film never succeeds in reaching again.

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The Boss Baby Review

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At this point, you’ve probably heard about Dreamworks Animation’s latest comedy, The Boss Baby, which, as its title entails, focuses on a seemingly innocent newborn who’s secretly a business savvy worker in a corporation in Heaven. Fortunately, said baby happens to be voiced by Alec Baldwin, in an admittedly funny, spot on bit of casting. But if the film’s promotional materials and trailers had made it seem like The Boss Baby may merely just be riding on the short-lived amusement of that one gag, then you probably won’t be surprised to know that it’s exactly that.

Directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar) and based loosely on the children’s book of the same name by Marla Frazee, The Boss Baby tells the story of Tim (voiced by Miles Christopher Bakshi), an imaginative seven-year-old boy living with just his Mom and Dad (voiced by Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel) when we first meet him. We’re quickly taken through a tour of Tim’s daily life in the opening of the film, which mostly involves him using his overactive imagination to imagine a bath as an underwater adventure into the literal belly of a beast, or a backyard barbeque as a showdown against some hungry apes. Then every night his parents read him three bedtime stories, sing him their rendition of “Blackbird,” and tuck him in for bed.

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Thimbleweed Park Review

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Ignore the fact that you’re playing on a widescreen, flat-panel monitor and Thimbleweed Park actually could’ve come from 1987. The point-and-click adventure game throwback from Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert is as dedicated to its period-perfect presentation – in ways that go deeper than you can possibly imagine – as it is to its traditional item-based puzzle solving. It’s not a comedy like Monkey Island, and its voice cast doesn’t always do the best job of breathing life into the humor that’s there, but its occasional how-far-can-I-take-this conversation trees and densely packed puzzle chains make Thimbleweed as deep and memorable of an adventure game as I’ve played in years.

Thimbleweed clearly enjoys being a 2017 adventure game set 30 years earlier as its Mulder and Scully-esque main characters arrive in town, with different agendas, in order to solve a murder. References to LucasArts and Monkey Island are everywhere – from a “G

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Old Man Logan #20 Review

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The finale to Jeff Lemire's Old Man Logan run is fast approaching. Issue #20 picks up where the previous chapter left off in terms of setting the stage for Logan's mysterious journey through time. Unfortunately, it accomplishes little else. This issue is merely a means to an end, plot-wise, and it remains unclear why the series needed even two issues to set the stage for "Past Lives."

The previous chapter established that Logan is hellbent on returning to his own world long enough to ensure that the Hulk baby he left behind is being properly cared for. Having exhausted his options among the upstanding heroes of the Marvel U., Logan now turns to sorcerer villain Asmodeus for assistance. There's some humor to be had in Asmodeus' D-List status, but ultimately both he and fellow guest star Miles Morales feel like expendable plot devices than truly relevant players. Miles' role in particular could just as easily have been filled by any number of other New York-based heroes.

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Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special #1 Review

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Green Lantern/Space Ghost is easily the most enticing of DC's four DC/Hanna-Barbera specials on offer this week. That's both due to the promising superhero pairing and the creative team involved. Nor does this issue disappoint, proving that maybe there's some long-term mileage to be had out of this particular alliance.

Initially, Green Lantern/Space Ghost seems content to go through the familiar motions of superhero crossovers. Both heroes find themselves drawn to a remote world in search of a powerful weapon, and they predictably wind up tussling before putting aside their differences. But it's not long before the usual tropes fall by the wayside in favor of a more compelling conflict. Writers James Tynion IV and Christopher Sebela craft a conflict that's well-suited to the one-shot structure of this issue. It's not too big or ambitious to fit the scope of the issue, but it strives to tell a far more poignant story than simply pitting two heroes against a cackling villain. The enemy here is ignorance, something that gives this issue a real sense of relevance despite it being millions of light years removed from Earth.

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Legion Season Finale Review

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Spoilers follow for this episode and the comics on which Legion is based.

Legion wraps up its first season with a slightly disappointing installment that feels anticlimactic in the wake of last week’s tour de force. While “Chapter 8” is still a crisp and memorable outing for the show, its cliffhanger nature and mostly meandering story end Season 1 in a lukewarm way.

It starts off in a surprisingly strong manner, however, as we retrace what happened to the Division 3 agent who was burned to a crisp -- or so we thought -- all the way back in the pilot episode. Here the character played by Hamish Linklater, who we learn is named Clark, goes from bad guy to at the very least sympathetic guy. He didn’t die from his wounds but rather suffered third-degree burns on almost half his body, and as the six-minute intro shows Clark’s husband and son worrying over him in the hospital, and later their home life together as he recovers, he takes on a greater importance in Legion -- and brings a bigger emotional resonance -- than most viewers would’ve ever expected.

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The Dark Knight III: The Master Race #8 Review

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It's becoming more and more common for major event comics at Marvel and DC to receive a last-minute extra issue. It happened with Secret Wars in 2015 and Civil War II in 2016, and now The Dark Knight III is getting in on that action. In every case, the reasoning is the same. The creators realized as they were crafting their superhero epic that they needed more room to give the story the finish it deserved. Time will ultimately tell if that approach was justified here, but it's hard to ignore the fact that issue #8 feels particularly light on story, even by the book's usual standard.

Issue #8 follows two main story threads. On one hand, we see the fallout from Superman's decision to drop a dying Bruce into the Lazarus Pit in the previous issue. That's a pretty huge twist considering that the Dark Knight mythos hinges so fundamentally on the idea of an aged Batman coming out of retirement. Strangely, writers Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello show little interest in exploring the impact of that development on Bruce himself or Carrie. At the very least, you'd expect the backup feature to dig a little deeper. But instead, the backup dwells on a mostly pointless and confusingly rendered side-story involving the return of a minor character from the original Dark Knight Returns.

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Justice League of America #3 Review

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Justice League of America had two distinguishing qualities when it first launched early this year. It boasted a strong team dynamic and was bolstered by the always incredible work of Ivan Reis. Sadly, these most recent two issues have shown that there's not much left once you remove those two pieces from the equation. What began as a promising addition to the Rebirth lineup has quickly lost its footing.

It seemed like a good idea to bring Lord Havok and the Extremists into the mix in issue #1. It was basically a chance to pit Batman's new team against the DCU equivalent of Doctor Doom and the Avengers. Unfortunately, Havok is every bit as egotistical as his inspiration, and he has a bad habit of hogging the spotlight. It's quickly gotten to the point where the Justice League feel like minor guest stars in their own book. Havok's rapid rise to power in his new world makes for reasonably compelling reading, but the book just isn't the same without the proper attention being paid to the dysfunctional relationships driving the JLA. Other than a couple isolated sequences, none of our heroes do much to stand out in this chapter.

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Review: Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Gaming Router

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The Netgear X4S (See it on Amazon) is a high-end AC2600 router that is in the upper echelon of the Netgear's lineup at around $200, and is just one rung below its extremely serious (and ultra expensive) money-is-no-object 8000 series routers that looks like spacecraft and are designed for enterprise or tech mogul deployments. Its model name is the R7800, and it’s what I consider the company’s top of the line offering for regular consumers. It’s also marketed as a gaming router, and on the router’s webpage the very first words in its description are, “Fastest gaming performance.” That is indeed what I want as a gamer, so let’s examine this bad boy and see how she runs.

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X-Men Prime #1 Review

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Last time Marvel published a comic called X-Men Prime, the franchise was transitioning from the highly enjoyable Age of Apocalypse crossover to the bloated, convoluted Onslaught era. Needless to say, the "Prime" name is not one X-fans tend to hold in high regard. But with the franchise now moving forward from one of its weakest, most underwhelming periods ever, the hope is that maybe the process will play out in reverse. Based solely on this issue, however, the future of the franchise remains uncertain.

Basically, X-Men Prime #1 offers the same basic story we see nearly every time the franchise goes through a transitional phase. The team is scattered and adrift following their war with the Inhumans. Kitty Pryde is returning to the fold after a long absence. Various team members are questioning whether the X-Men even have a place in the current Marvel Universe, which echoes (probably intentionally) questions readers have been voicing over the past few years. The X-Men need someone to guide them in this uncertain new world, and writers Marc Guggenheim, Cullen Bunn and Greg Pak attempt to make a strong case for Kitty.

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Persona 5 Review

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In stark contrast to the slow burn of epic-length cutscenes that greet you in previous Persona games, Persona 5 starts its long journey with a bang by throwing you directly into a fast-paced foot chase through a vibrant, stylized Tokyo casino. That’s a bold move, and it’s emblematic of the entire experience. As we’re introduced to the complex yet approachable turn-based battle system in those opening moments, series fans will recognize not only returning systems from Persona 3 and 4, but also long-absent elements like ranged weapons and negotiation that haven’t been in a Persona game in over a decade, adding more depth and variety to combat. Persona 5 is the culmination of everything the JRPG series has been building to, with familiar elements dialed up to 11 and some welcome new surprises added into the mix.

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Power Rangers: Aftershock Graphic Novel Review

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The Power Rangers may have only just morphed back into multiplexes, but that doesn’t mean their adventure ends once the credits roll. From BOOM! Studios, Power Rangers: Aftershock picks up right where the Lionsgate film leaves off, expanding existing plot points and introducing entirely new ones. Lead by the creative team of Ryan Parrott, Lucas Werneck and Robert Carey, this original graphic novel serves as a solid continuation of the newly introduced cinematic universe, though one beset by many of the same issues that plague the film. If you haven’t yet seen the film, it goes without saying – there be spoilers here.

The story begins with the citizens of Angel Grove still reeling from the aftermath of the Rangers’ battle with Rita Repulsa and her giant Goldar, or as one character puts it, “our own little version of Katrina.” Disaster relief is in full effect, the injured and displaced tally in high numbers, and those in charge are left looking for answers. That same what-now feel extends to the town’s newly revealed protectors. Though fresh off their first real victory, Parrott is quick to remind readers that this is very much a team still finding their footing, both as individuals and as a collective group. Much like the film, Parrott strikes to find a balance that pairs the uncertainty (and angst) of youth with the joys of being a superhero, though for much of the read the former vastly dominates the latter. It’s not that his book is overly dour—there are plenty of amusing situations and one-liners sprinkled throughout—but rather that the end results don’t translate in quite the same way.

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DC's Legends of Tomorrow: "Doomworld" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

The Flash’s third season has been aggravating for a number of reasons, but high on the list is the fact that the Flashpoint reality turned out to be such a dud. Rather than present a drastically different alternate universe where all the rules have changed, “Flashpoint” was content to merely ruffle a few feathers before returning the show to a more familiar status quo. Once again, it falls on Legends of Tomorrow to do what other Arrow-verse shows seem unwilling or unable. “Doomworld” offered the fun yet dramatic alternate universe story we didn’t get all those months ago.

“Doomworld” offered viewers a taste of what happens when the bad guys win and gain the power to bend reality to their whim. And what better way to kick things off than a scene where a costumed Felicity Smoak is being hunted down by Sara Lance and Amaya Jiwe? It really seemed like the writers were trying to cater to both the pro- and anti-Felicity camps there. The former got to see her masquerading as a costumed vigilante for a minute or two, and the latter got to watch as Damien Darhk snapped her neck. It’s a shame we didn’t see more familiar faces from The Flash and Arrow (especially with the mention of Tommy Merlyn being alive), but clearly the Legion of Doom have been keeping busy since altering reality.

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The Flash: "Abra Kadabra" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

It’s always been frustrating how little interest The Flash shows in the actual Flash Rogues compared to Barry Allen’s speedster enemies. So the fact that “Abra Kadabra” introduced the titular villain to the Arrow-verse was a welcome step in the right direction. Sadly, the spectre of Savitar hung over what could have been a really entertaining episode.

The Flash crew certainly found the right man for the job. Dave Dastmalchian has practically built a career around playing minor but memorable characters in critically adored superhero movies (including The Dark Knight and Ant-Man). He was a great fit to play a theatrical showman from the 64th Century. He brought a nice energy and whimsical absurdity to the aprt. Yes his performance was pretty hammy, but if any Flash villain should be played over-the-top, it’s Abra Kadabra. You want the sense that a man born 4,000 years in the future is operating on a different wavelength from everyone else.

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Imaginary Mary: Series Premiere Review

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Note: this is a spoiler-free advance review of the first episode of Imaginary Mary, which premieres tonight on ABC.

It's been just over 20 years since The Simpsons episode "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie" show first aired, and somehow that episode only seems to grow more relevant with age. What better way to revive a tired show or spruce up a stale premise than inserting a faux-hip, wisecracking cartoon character into the mix? That seems to be the thinking here, as a painfully straightforward romantic comedy premise is embellished with the addition of a CGI-animated imaginary friend. Needless to say, this wisecracking cartoon sidekick shows no more staying power than Poochie himself did two decades ago.

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The Walking Dead - A New Frontier Episode 3 Review

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Telltale Games’ third season of The Walking Dead continues the trend of the two-part season premiere, exploring its themes of family through the strong lens of its new protagonist, Javi. And though A New Frontier continues to do right by its lead, the narrative problems of the two-part premiere persist in this good but not quite great mid-season episode.

After making such a sympathetic protagonist in Clementine for two seasons, A New Frontier continues to find unique ways of making Javi equally likeable. “Above the Law” kicks off with yet another look at Javi’s life in the early days of the outbreak. Watching Javi take charge of his brother David’s family feels as vital to his story as anything in the present-day storyline. These flashbacks are some of the series’ quieter moments, sure, but they can offer greater impact than any of the franchise’s most bombastic scenes.

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24: Legacy: "8:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M." Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

 

To be fair, it was going to be very difficult to follow last week’s episode. While this episode was not perfect - we will get into the dumb moments in a bit - it still pushed the story forward and built a bit of mystery as the show enters its final stretch.

We can now add Jadalla’s name to the relatively short list of big bads that end up in Interrogation room 1. While he did not say much, he seemed… different. Rebecca didn’t know Jadalla was actually being cooperative, but it hinted at the fact that his conviction may be waning. An hour ago he had Carter tied up and was pontificating about how his mission was God’s will, and now he barely says a thing. I was waiting for Jadalla to acknowledge the fact that he could be wrong. He genuinely thought his mission was righteous; and the only way to be proven wrong would be to fail, which he did.

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Bates Motel: "Marion" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

As mentioned in my review of last week's Bates Motel, "Dreams Die First," Marion Crane is crossing paths with a very different Norman than the man who was depicted in Psycho. Fans of the film will recognize similar beats and the occasional nod and/or wink to the Hitchcock classic, but Norman was in a very complex headspace in "Marion," actively wrestling with his own subconscious in a fascinating and suspenseful way that made for a stunning new read on the old storyline.

Most notably here...Marion got away!

Oh, someone still got stabbed in the shower, allowing for that memorable moment to get shifted over nicely into the long-form tale that Bates has been spinning. But it wasn't Marion. No, Norman was able to feel his "Norma" personality kicking in and provided her with ample warning. So, strangely enough, if anything, Norman was the one of the best things to happen to Marion Crane in her life probably. A far cry from the gruesome end she met back in the movie.

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Supergirl: "Distant Sun" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Tonight’s Supergirl is one of those weird episodes that’s solid on its own merits, but somewhat disappointing in the context of the season as a whole. Of the four Arrow-verse shows, Supergirl is the one with the least tangible sense of direction right now. It hasn’t been entirely clear what the endgame of Season 2 is meant to be, and with the series set to take a month-long break before the final push, it’s still annoyingly unclear where things are headed.

First, the good elements. “Distant Sun” featured two noteworthy returns, as Kevin Smith came back to direct his second episode of the season and Lynda Carter finally reprised her role as President Marsdin. As before, Smith’s presence wasn’t really noticeable (aside from the obligatory Star Wars reference and an amusing nod to his film Yoga Hosers). Visually and tonally, this was “just” another episode of Supergirl. As it should be.

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Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Review

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You’d expect the finale of the Dark Souls trilogy to be a grand, apocalyptic affair, and as far as its haunting new settings and frightening boss fights go, The Ringed City certainly delivers. But for all the cool new gear, spells, and thrilling tests of skill and endurance it throws at you, this final DLC adventure for Dark Souls 3 has its strongest moments tucked away in the quieter corners of its carefully crafted world.

This is the end of Dark Souls as we know it, and with it comes a host of exciting lore implications that tie back to previous games in the series. Most of those moments trigger startling revelations about this beloved world's past, but also a few thought-provoking questions about its future… even at the end of everything.

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Dragon Ball Super Episode 83 Review

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Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the episode.

Things slowed down this week as Goku returns to Earth to recruit members to fill the 10-person requirement for the Tournament of Power. During his search a side plot unfolded as Bulma and Vegeta welcomed their daughter into the world. Bulla’s arrival added some much needed excitement to the episode, as the opening minutes were very dull and tough to watch.

While everyone else is enjoying the newborn entering the world, Vegeta was his typical standoffish self but there were several well edited cuts to show his secret affection he just couldn’t allow anyone to see. There was also an emphasis on him giving Bulla a royal name, as Vegeta is still the Prince of all Saiyans, and the emphasis on this has me wondering what the future might hold for the newborn royalty. I also got a chuckle out of his parental tick: anytime Bulla started to cry, Vegeta would get upset and accidentally go Super Saiyan Blue.

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Rain World Review

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Rain World is astonishingly good-looking and absurdly cruel, a 2D action-platformer that thrills almost as often as it makes you throw down the controller in despair. Almost. Guiding a character only referred to by the developers as a “Slugcat”, your travels across an obtuse, ruined world combine elements of stealth, survival, and even hints of shoot-‘em-up to great effect - but the structure of the game itself works against its sometimes brilliant moment-to-moment play.

During development, the game became a consistent source of Twitter gif fodder for its almost uncannily fluid character animations, achieved through a mixture of pixel art and procedural generation. In playing, Rain World has lost none of that charm. It’s the first thing you notice, in fact – Slugcat clings onto poles, shimmies through cramped ventilation and pounces across gaps not only beautifully, but reactively, taking into account the angle you began at and adjusting accordingly. Enemies follow suit, with everything from carnivorous, camouflaged plantlife to enormous, gas-spurting vultures acting and reacting with spectacular, horrible grace.

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Black Sails: "XXXVII." Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

 

Black Sails dove even further inside the relationship of Flint and Silver, while threatening to shatter it forever, in its intense and fight-filled penultimate series episode.

Black Sails has always been great at using its hour to pack in the most story possible, without anything ever feeling jammed up. Here, in the second-to-last episode, Flint and Silver clashed in the most violent of ways before wild card Woodes Rogers brought them back together in the final beats, even if temporarily, to unite possibly once more again their common foe.

Flint's plan to rescue Madi was always a long-shot. An earnest one, but it was always a risk. Also, behind it was his desire to, basically, not trade all the treasure for one life. Silver's plan too though, to hand over all the gold, was also rather foolhardy. It was all reliant on Woodes keeping his word and not murdering everyone regardless. Both of these guys didn't have a 100% handle on this situation headed in, but it was Flint who was willing to become the enemy on order to be the better friend, perhaps. His position here, as he hid away to the loot until they could rescue Madi and be done with his particular predicament, was almost to be the parent too. To provide the toughest of tough loves, as it were.

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Budding Prospects: Amazon Pilot Review

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Amazon's "Pilot Season" is here once again and we're taking a look at all the new offerings. The pilots, which you can see here are presented to everyone, for voting and feedback purposes, and then Amazon picks up the ones they feel are received the best to series.

From Ghost World and Bad Santa director Terry Zwigoff, Amazon's new half hour comedy pilot Budding Prospects focuses on a trio of pot-smokers as they embark on a journey to grow marijuana on a remote farm in 1980s Northern California. Based on a book by T.C. Boyle, the premiere episode introduces interesting characters in a world we grow to believe in while simultaneously feeling like the real story never quite gets started.

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Star Wars Rebels: Season 3 Finale Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

The Star Wars Rebels: Season 3 finally had a pretty high bar to reach following Season 2’s finale. Of course, to be fair, that was a situation that was impossible to replicate – the fight between Ahsoka and Vader was a nearly decade long build up for fans with an entire other show’s emotional build up powering it. On top of that, just last week, with the Obi-Wan/Maul final confrontation, Rebels had given us another huge encounter that would be hard to match for drama in “Zero Hour.”

All of which is to say… it was a good episode! But one that felt a bit lacking in regards to Thrawn and his accomplishments.

Thrawn’s been built up so much this season with a slow burn approach where he studies and analyzes his opponents, purposely holding off any large scale attack. And we saw that it did pay off to a point – his plan was working, he correctly predicted that the Rebels were going to try something unexpected, and if it weren’t for Konstantine disobeying orders, he may very well have wiped out the Rebel forces before anyone could escape to get help.

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The Blackcoat's Daughter Review

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Some movies are just plain frustrating. They have a capable cast and an interesting idea at their core, but are never able to utilize these elements in order to make something compelling. Such is the case with writer/director Oz Perkins' The Blackcoat's Daughter.

The film, which stars Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton, is the tale of two students at a private school during the February break. Played by Shipka and Boynton respectively, Kat and Rose are in different grades, not friends, and stuck at school for different reasons, but thrust together due to their circumstances. The audience watches as the girls wait to be picked up and things get increasingly dark and disturbing. Naturally, there are tales of odd rituals taking place at the school, and since this is a horror film, the audience must pay attention to those stories.

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CHIPS Review

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Based on the 1977-83 TV series of the same name, CHIPS (the TV series was spelled "CHiPs") is the latest in a very long line of comedic movie adaptations of more straightforward, classic cop shows (21 Jump Street, Starsky & Hutch, Dragnet).

The film is directed by and co-stars Dax Shepard as officer Jon Baker, an over-the-hill rookie with the California Highway Patrol who can't let go of his X Games glory days. He is partnered with Frank "Ponch" Poncherello (Michael Pena), who is not exactly who he claims in a change that further differentiates the movie from its small screen inspiration.

Jon is both by the book and yet also unorthodox, while Ponch is all about pursuing his larger agenda (and serving his libido). As expected, conflict between these two differing styles ensues until, of course, a common enemy unites them.

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G.Skill Ripjaws KM780 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

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Editor's Note: IGN is going to be reviewing a lot more gaming hardware in 2017. We're kicking off our tech coverage with deep dives into some of 2016's staples; so hit the comment section to give us your feedback. We want it.

Though G.Skill is primarily known for its overclocked memory modules, the company also has a burgeoning lineup of gaming peripherals as well. For keyboards it essentially offers a flagship model named the KM780 (See it on Amazon), from which it's spun several lower-priced variants that have the same design but fewer features. I am taking a look at the top dog though, which has every bell and whistle ever devised for a gaming keyboard, including some I’ve never seen before. At $130 it's fully-loaded and less expensive than other flagship RGB mechanical keyboards, so let's take a look and see how she runs.

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Wilson Review

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Wilson is something of a curiosity the kind of which we don’t see as much of these days. Woody Harrelson plays the titular character, a lonely, neurotic and sometime uncomfortably honest middle-aged divorcee who some would describe as a misanthrope, but others might describe as an a-hole. He’s an awkward character that grates as much as he delights. Wilson reunites with his estranged wife, Pippi, played by Laura Dern, and gets a shot at happiness when he learns he has a teenage daughter, played by Isabella Amara, he has never met and sets out to connect with her.

Watching this there’s something strangely familiar and oddly comforting about Wilson in its tone and presentation that takes you back to the early 2000s and the likes of Ghost World and Art School Confidential but there’s a good reason for that. Like those films, Wilson is based on the satirical graphic novel of the same name by American cartoonist Daniel Clowes. Sideways director Alexander Payne, with Clowes writing the screenplay, originally optioned the book.

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Star Wars: Darth Maul #2 Review

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As solid as Marvel's Star Wars lineup has been over the past two years, it's tough not to grow frustrated with the often conservative approach these books have taken. Darth Maul is the latest in a long line of solo series that do little to truly enrich the character in question or break new ground in a galaxy far, far away. There are many great stories worth telling with Darth Maul at the center, but this isn't one of them.

Issue #2 sees Maul continue his quest to make with the revenge-ing and kill an actual Jedi for a change. There's plenty of focus on Maul's anti-Jedi rage and annoyance at his master's calls for patience, but little on any other aspects of his character. The narrative captions do little to bring any new insight to a character who developed a surprising amount of nuance in his various animated appearances. I'd just as soon have them trimmed entirely, bringing the book more in line with Marvel's generally light, cinematic approach to the franchise. Only during a brief flashback sequence does this issue really break the mold and begin to delve into Maul's background and complicated psychology.

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Iron Fist #1 Review

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Is it any surprise that Marvel has a new Iron Fist comic ready to go mere days after the character made his Netflix debut? Clearly, the new Iron Fist comic is meant to appeal to fans of the Netflix series as much as any other target audience. Unfortunately, that show consistently struggled to do justice to the source material, so there's not much to be gained from the transition to a darker, moodier Danny Rand in the comics.

Building on developments from Kaare Andrews' Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, this new series sees Danny mourning the destruction of K'un L'un and his general failure as Iron Fist. He;'s now reduced to travelling the globe, participating in underground fight clubs and drowning his sorrows in alcohol. But as usually the case when martial artist heroes go walkabout, an opportunity for Danny to regain his lost honor eventually presents itself.

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Trove Review

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Trove takes Minecraft's style and focus on creative construction and fills its online, free-to-play world with dungeons, monsters, and treasure. While its highly varied environments are fun to explore, Trove lacks the depth to make it worth devoting much time to.

There’s theoretically a plot to explain why Trove is divided into many tiny, monster-infested realms, but you won't hear about that beyond the opening cinematic. After that, the only motivation to stay engaged comes from a sort of tutorial quest chain that instructs you to try crafting various things and level up so you can visit more challenging areas. There are also timed quests that require rushing to beat a set of dungeons in a particular zone, ideally using a specific character class in order to get bonus rewards. There's not even the thinnest of story to make you feel like a hero who's accomplishing anything by slaying monsters and recovering treasures.

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The Americans: "The Midges" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Martha’s back! It felt inevitable we’d see her again at some point, but it’s great to get confirmation here. In classic Americans style, it wasn’t rushed. We saw her, but Oleg didn’t (or at least he didn’t really recognize who she was when he glanced at her), but now we know she’s potentially in play this season. When might she pop up again? We shall see.

Oleg in the meantime is bringing us deeper into exploring just how crappy things are for the average person in Russia, as we saw the depressing looking market he ventured to (and Martha was shopping at) while questioning a woman who was, notably, still getting better food than others. While Nina gave us a Russian storyline before, it was under very specific circumstances as a prisoner, so following Oleg this season is allowing us to explore different aspects for the series.

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Life Review

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It’s hard not to think about Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien: Covenant when watching the trailers and promotional footage for Life. With a similar basic story and genre elements, it might even be easier to write off Life as nothing more than a rip off of the original Alien, as a team of astronauts and scientists are forced to fight for their lives against an evolving alien lifeform wreaking havoc on their spaceship. Nonetheless, while Life isn’t nearly as inventive, scary, or gloriously moody as that 1979 classic, it does manage to carve out a suitable space for itself in the sci-fi genre as a fun, often grotesque story about what men and women of this profession will do to protect life at all costs.

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The Unworthy Thor #5 Review

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The Unworthy Thor #5 is notable not just for wrapping up this particular leg of Jason Aaron's Thor saga, but because it finally answers one of the most burning mysteries in the Marvel Universe. After three years of build-up, the revelations in this issue may not completely satisfy readers. However, in terms of furthering the central themes of Aaron's Thor run, this mini-series has certainly delivered.

Even as this issue wraps up Thor's confrontation with The Collector and the minions of Thanos, the focus remains on exploring the concept of worthiness. What makes a god truly worthy of their title? Why is Thor no longer worthy to wield the power he once did? Can he truly recapture his worthiness by claiming a new hammer, or is there a different path ahead of him? The reveal of just what Nick Fury said to Thor all those months ago may seem disappointingly simple and straightforward, but there was never likely going to be an answer that truly lived up to the hype. What matters is that it ties in nicely with the greater themes and conflicts of the series and goes a long way towards illustrating where Thor's head is at these days. Despite the raw fury displayed on the battlefield, Aaron keeps the focus in this issue very intimate.

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Oasis: Amazon Pilot Review

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Amazon's "Pilot Season" is here once again and we're taking a look at all the new offerings. The pilots, which you can see here are presented to everyone, for voting and feedback purposes, and then Amazon picks up the ones they feel are received the best to series.

The solemn and haunting Oasis, based on the novel The Book of Strange New Things, stars Game of Thrones' Richard Madden as an earnest priest in a crumbling not-too-distant future Earth. A world not too far ahead of us time-wise, though apparently leaps and bounds beyond us on the space travel front as the series, only set in 2032, involves rocketing people to the farthest corner of our galaxy for colonization on a desert world.

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The New V.I.P.'s: Amazon Pilot Review

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Note: this is a spoiler-free review for the pilot episode of The New V.I.P.'s, which is currently available to stream on Amazon as part of their latest Pilot Season.

One could argue that Amazon's Prime Instant Video Service hasn't truly come into its own until it offers its own animated sitcom to compete with the Family Guys and Rick and Mortys and BoJack Horsemans of the TV world. Theoretically, The New V.I.P.'s will be that animated sitcom, assuming it makes it past the pilot stage. And that's still a pretty big assumption at this stage. The series boasts some fun ideas and wrinkles to the typical workplace comedy formula, but far too much generic comedy to truly stand out yet.

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24: Legacy: "7:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M." Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

What an episode! It was one intense action scene after the next!

I’ll be honest, I was worried last week’s quality episode was a fluke, but this hour surpassed it in every way. It is usually difficult to elevate your protagonist and antagonist at the same time; development of one normally comes at the cost of the other. Hour eight of our story proves otherwise, with our heroes finally coming face-to-face with Jadalla.

While the action scenes were exhilarating and impressive, the best parts of the episode were the short, powerful, verbal spars between Carter and Jadalla. Some of the best lines of the episode came from the brief conversations. Jadalla talks a big game, but the dialogue allows for noticeable cracks in his armor. He wants to succeed BECAUSE his father did not. His desire to be “greater than” revealed some major daddy issues, and Carter picked up on it. Carter’s line about what this country represents was a tad corny, but isn’t that kind of the point?

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Dragon Ball Super Episode 82 Review

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Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the episode.

A new challenger appears before Goku, and with Zen-Oh’s permission another exhibition match is allowed to take place. Toppo wishes to deal out some justice to the villain he perceives Goku to be and the fight that ensues pushes both warriors to the very edge. However, there is more going on than a simple fight, and it’s the growing theme of Goku as a villain that propels Episode 82.

Toppo, the Warrior of Justice from Universe 11 is the latest adversary for Goku. What I find most appealing about him, aside from his Ginyu Force inspired antics, is that he clearly is the hero of his universe. The way he acts and speaks to both Goku and those around him paints a clear picture: he thinks Goku is a bad guy. Of course, Toppo is also a great fighter and watching him pummel Goku and then survive a Kamehameha with little issue was quite thrilling. Most of all, though, the scene where he rejects Goku’s handshake stood out to me. As simple as it was, rejecting Goku’s offer of peace and friendship hammered home just the kind of person Toppo is, and how upset and disgusted he is with Goku’s actions.

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Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum Gaming Keyboard Review

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Editor's note: IGN is ramping tech and hardware reviews back up, one product category at a time. We're kicking off with deep dives into some of the best-of-the best headsets, GPUs, Mice, Monitors, and keyboards from the last few years.

The Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum (See it on Amazon) sits at the top of the company's mechanical keyboard lineup, just one notch below the flagship G910 models. The main difference between the G810 and the G910 keyboards is that the 910s offer an array of dedicated macro keys along with other fancy stuff like a wrist wrest and ARX Control integration, which a lot of gamers don't need. As such the G810 Orion Spectrum is the company's version of a stripped-down mechanical gaming keyboard with RGB lighting and media controls, and at $159.99 MSRP (often sold for around $110) its priced right in line with similar keyboards from Corsair, G.Skill, Razer, and others.

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Power Rangers Review

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Whenever Hollywood attempts to reboot a beloved, pre-existing property on the big screen, it always feels more or less reconstructed in a way to be more accessible for all kinds of audiences, and less specific than the original incarnation may have ever been. The best thing that can be said about 2017’s Power Rangers then - Saban and Lionsgate’s new attempt at bringing the iconic title back to life as a large scale blockbuster - is that it doesn’t ever feel like it betrays the core values of the Power Rangers franchise.

That may be a disappointing selling point of the film though for those who never quite connected to the property in the first place but are going in expecting it to be a much different or darker approach than its previous incarnations. Make no mistake, this Power Rangers is still just as campy and cheesy as the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, but it just looks much better than that early ’90s version could ever be. To put it simply, this is very much a film for the fans out there who always wondered what Power Rangers might look like if the budget for the special effects and action sequences matched the ambition of them.

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Snatch: Season 1 Review

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Note: This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Snatch: Season 1, which is now on Crackle. I'll discuss basic plot and character details but avoid getting too deep into specifics.

The success of FX's Fargo seems to have various TV networks on the prowl for more cult-classic crime movies to morph into serialized dramas. Crackle throws its hat into the ring with Snatch, a loose adaptation of Guy Ritchie's hyper-kinetic 2000 caper. But where Fargo manages to be both a fitting tribute to its source material and a wholly different beats, Snatch settles for being a decent but uninspired riff on what came before.

The series was created by Alex De Rakoff, who directed the similarly Ritchie-inspired Dead Man Running and the bizarre FMV opening sequence in Grand Theft Auto 2. In terms of plot, the new series pretty quickly diverges from the original Snatch, but when it comes to presentation - the love of slow motion, the smash cuts, the trendy music - the new Snatch is very much like the old.

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Mass Effect: Andromeda Review

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Seeking out new life and new civilizations to shoot and have sex with, Mass Effect: Andromeda creatively sidesteps the limitations of Mass Effect 3’s ending by launching a group of pioneers into a whole new galaxy. What they find there is a vast and sometimes exciting action role-playing game that kept me engaged, but after the outstanding trilogy that created this universe, Andromeda is a disappointing follow up with some significant technical issues on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

From the opening moments, there’s an immediate sense of mystery and peril as the human colony ship encounters a massive, world-ruining space anomaly that throws their plans into disarray, and a new hostile alien race led by a threatening villain attacks on sight. The quest to find a habitable and safe new home for tens of thousands of frozen colonists and form a functioning independent government along with colonists from the krogan, salarian, turian, and asari ships is an interesting struggle that sets this Mass Effect apart from the establishments of previous games. At the same time, Andromeda just can’t stop itself from retreading some major plot ideas from the original trilogy, including another long-dead civilization that’s left advanced technology lying around.

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The Elder Scrolls: Legends Review

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The CCG (computer card game) space is an increasingly crowded one, but Legends is hoping to stand out from the pack by tapping into the rich lore of the Elder Scrolls series, and by bringing some new gameplay ideas to the table. It succeeds in both regards, offering up a compelling competitive experience, as well as solid single player content.

Legends incorporates elements from both Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone. From the former it has a colour/attribute system in place of classes. Players build their deck of (at least) 50 cards using no more than two of the game’s six colours. Each colour represents a broad theme, so green is Agility, purple is Endurance, blue is Intelligence, red is Strength and yellow is Willpower. Neutral, colourless cards complete the pool and can be used in any deck. The colour system is less evocative than having classes represented by defined personalities, but it certainly makes for a lot of potential attribute combinations, and thus, gameplay variety.

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Star Wars Rebels: "Twin Suns" Review

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Note: This episode can be seen now on Disney XD's app and WatchDisneyXD prior to its airing on Disney XD. Full spoilers for the episode follow.

 There was much to love in “Twin Suns” but also a couple of notable issues, so let me get those issues out of the way and then get to the great stuff.

Rebels is very different from The Clone Wars in how it’s structured, in that it always includes at least some of the core six characters (yes, you too Chopper!) the show began with. You could say the “leads” in The Clone Wars were Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, but there were many episodes none of that trio appeared in (or barely did) – installments focusing on characters like Mace Windu, Yoda, Padme, Asajj Ventress, Jar Jar (sigh) or some Clone Trooper grunts. But with Rebels we pretty much always have our perspective through one of the six Ghost crewmembers. So I get the inclination to have Ezra be somewhat present for this story… but it feels like he is too center stage up until the end, and what he sees raises some notable questions.

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The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ Review

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When we reviewed The Binding of Isaac Rebirth on PC and Playstation 4, we thought it was an amazing game and awarded it a score of 9.0. Here’s what we said then:

“The time I’ve spent with Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has been non-stop fun and surprises, with just a tad too much frustration when I lose a rare item. But even when it slaps me down harder than I’d have liked, starting again is always a treat, because I’m likely to discover something new and darkly comedic. That’s plenty of motivation to keep right on playing this amazing game.”

The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ includes a new expansion plus all of the previous DLC, and it further fleshes out Isaac’s replayable, addictive gameplay formula by offering more of what made the original shoot ‘em up action game so great. The almost non-stop variety, mysterious powerups, and procedurally generated maps are just as cryptic and challenging as they were before, but now you can play even longer without ever seeing the same thing happen twice.

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Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

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Editor's note: IGN is ramping tech and hardware reviews back up, one product category at a time. We're kicking off with deep dives into some of the best-of-the best headsets, GPUs, Mice, Monitors, and keyboards from the last few years.

The Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (See it on Amazon) is a responsive and attractive gaming plank for budget-minded PC gamers—or those who have blown the budget on a high-quality rig and monitor. It's Kingston's sole keyboard offering under its HyperX line of gaming peripherals and as its name states, it's meant specifically for playing first-person shooters. So if shooting stuff isn't your thing, you should look consider looking elsewhere - although it can still get the job done. At just $99 it's on the more affordable end of the spectrum for a mechanical keyboard with backlighting and Cherry MX switches.

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