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Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw Review

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Official movie poster by Universal Pictures.

Buckle up for chaotic action, endless one-liners and a plot that reminds us how reliant the Fast and Furious franchise is on big stars and motor fuel.

Hobbs and Shaw delivers all of this and more.

My biggest praise of Hobbs and Shaw is that it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The writers were relentless with back-and-forth bickering between Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Shaw (Jason Statham).

Most of the jokes surprisingly landed for me and I found myself laughing for most of the movie, even when the film wasn’t trying to make a joke.

As you would expect, there are a lot of outrageous fights and car chases in this movie and I thoroughly enjoyed most of them.

In particular, there was a great balance of wide-angle speed shots and close-up slow-mo moments.

It’s like riding a roller coaster: slow rises, exhilarating falls.

The Fast and Furious franchise has become less about actually racing cars and more about high stakes action featuring different vehicles.

Hobbs and Shaw introduces the franchise to its first super-powered character in Brixton (Idris Alba).

Alba does the best he can with Brixton, who was written as a stereotypical bad guy who shares similar characteristics to our heroes but with a dark backstory.

Despite the poor writing, I thought Alba gave some life to the character and much-needed charisma.

As I said earlier, this movie is very reliant on its star power, but the trio of Johnson, Stratham and Alba may be the most talent we’ve seen in any of the Fast and Furious films.

Side note, this movie features two of the greatest cameos in cinematic history; if you’re expecting Vin Diesel and Tyrese Gibson, just imagine those two but actually good actors.

Hobbs sister, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), is also given a major role in the film and does a great job of balancing out the two brutes with a sleek and suave speaking and fighting style.

This movie is pedal to the metal from the jump and very rarely pulls its foot off the gas.

This movie takes the humor and action scenes from the original eight Fast and Furious films and cranks it up to a thousand.

This often leaves the story and characters’ emotions neglected, but who came to the theaters to see any of that?

We want explosions and testosterone, and that’s exactly what we get with Hobbs and Shaw.

Overall, Hobbs and Shaw is a firework show: loud, bright and sure to bring you joy at the moment, but ultimately forgettable.

Missing Link Review – Get yeti for a wild ride

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Official movie poster by Laika

It can be difficult to blend in with the crowd for a lot of people…and especially for a Sasquatch.

Stop-motion animation studio Laika released its fifth feature-length film, “Missing Link”, on Friday, April 12.

The film has so far received 90% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $16.2 million in the box office.

Adventurer and mythical-creature-discoverer Sir Lionel Frost meets an intelligent Sasquatch while traveling in Washington State, whom he dubs Mr. Link.

Wanting to no longer live a solitary life, Mr. Link wishes to find his long-lost relatives located in a fabled valley in the Himalayas known as Shangri-La.

All the while, Frost and Mr. Link are being hunted by an assassin named Willard Stenk, hired by Mr. Lemuel Lint.

Throughout their journey, there are plenty of perilous situations and funny moments, and a special lesson to be learned about family and ambitions.

Both Hugh Jackman as Sir Lionel Frost and Zoe Saldana as Adelina Fortnight, Frost’s former girlfriend, play their roles well.

Zach Galifianakis as Mr. Link provides a great comedic touch to a film from a studio that is usually darker in theme, such as “Coraline” and “Paranorman”.

Mr. Link’s physical comedy and overly literal mindset make for a character that’s fun to watch and listen to, and his interactions with the film’s other characters are comedy gold.

The film took quite a few turns that I wasn’t expecting, and there were plenty of expectation-subversion moments that caught me pleasantly off-guard.

The quality of the animation was stellar, as always with Laika. The frames blend together so smoothly that sometimes it’s hard to tell the film was done using stop-motion.

If you look hard enough in certain scenes, you can see the ever-so-slight changes in the textures of the character’s faces in close-up shots, and it really is amazing, especially the amount of detail that goes into every character’s design and figure.

The film is not without a few faults, though.

The main conflict seems somewhat forced in that the antagonists try far too hard to prevent the protagonist from achieving their goals.

There were also a few moments where the characters got caught up in exceedingly ridiculous predicaments, and sometimes the physical comedy was a little too-on-the-nose.

I can’t say that “Missing Link” is as memorable as “Coraline” or as impactful as “Kubo and the Two Strings,” but Laika still put together a good feature film that takes a nice turn from the studio’s Goth-like trend.

I look forward to seeing what Laika does in the future.

A Casual Review – ANNO 1800: A Relaxing and Engaging City Builder

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Official game poster by Ubisoft

After two not so successful Sci-fi themed releases, the Anno series has finally gone back to its roots.

Developed by Blue Byte and published by Ubisoft, Anno 1800 is a real-time strategy city-building game that is taking place during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century.

In the game, the player assumes the role of a colonial leader of the crown, building up new economies and establishing trades as the game progresses.

What makes Anno unique is perhaps its competitiveness, unlike most city builder games, the player is not alone.

There are other AI or player factions that seek to prosper, and there is only a limited number of islands and resources, which means that the player needs to think and act strategically.

At the beginning of the game, the player starts off in the Old World, which has a similar climate and environment as the majority of Western Europe.

In the Old World, the player needs to expand and industrialize the colony’s economy, as well as managing different classes of people.

Once the colony has developed to a stable economy, the player can then choose to venture into the uncharted seas of the New World.

The New World is vastly different from the Old World, the player will encounter new threats as well as new resources that are needed to fulfill the people’s demands.

The player will be working with the local populations of the New World, exchanging resources in order to become more powerful.

The game has many mechanics that need to be learned by a new player, such as trade routes, naval combat and chain of supplies.

Fortunately enough, the game did provide a campaign mode for new players to learn while having all the fun that the game has to offer.

The overall gameplay experience of Anno 1800 is quite relaxing.

Like most city builders, the players are in control of the pace of the game, even when there are competitive elements present.

A single game session of Anno 1800 can take a very long time to finish.

It will probably remind the players to take a break or get a coffee because they’ve been staring at the screen for too long.

While I believe that the game is very much recommended for people who are looking for a fun and relaxing game to player, I think that Anno 1800 is not a game worth spending $59.99 for.

The game can also be very demanding on the player’s PC and time, which are the things that most college students don’t have at the moment.

Students showcase creativity at Film Festival

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The FITV Student Film Festival showcased the creativity of the local community through film.

This year, the film festival took place at the Gleason Performing Arts Center and lasted a span of two days.

The festival accepted films based on 7 categories, being action, drama, comedy, documentary, meme, horror and sci-fi/fantasy.

Together with the showing of the films, the festival incorporated segments like Film Talk, where they discussed the many aspects of film and its importance.

Other segments included Spotlight, in which winners from last year’s festival were showcased and Trivia, where the audience was questioned on their film knowledge.

The festival ended with the awards.

Each film was judged prior to the showing and their results were revealed at the end of the festival.

The awards were given to the first and second place in each category and also best film of the festival, that being “Waltz of Despondency”, by director Cedieu Gantt-Exavier.

The awards included a trophy, filming equipment and also movie passes for Premiere Oaks, for anyone involved in the making of the films submitted.

  • Ahmed Alnasser receiving an award for his film “Daily Journey”. His film claimed first place for Comedy.
  • Ebube Ubochi receiving an award for his film “Screen Time”. His film claimed first place for Documentary.
  • Alessandro Bonauito, together with his cast, receiving an award for his film “If WW1 was a Bar Fight”. His film claimed first place for Action.
  • Rebecca Wilson, together with her cast, receiving an award for her film “Wherever You Go”. Their film claimed first place for Horror.
  • A member of FITSSFF receiving an award for the film “EU vs USA Zombie Invasion”. Their film claimed first place for Meme.
  • Gabriel Jankowski receiving an award for his film “The Longest Time”. His film claimed first place for Sci-Fi/Fantasy.
  • Best film winner Cedieu Ganntt-Exavier celebrates his win with his mother for “Waltz of Despondency” as best Film Overall and best Drama.

A small, yet good turnout for Florida Tech’s first pride week

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Spectrum members and friends at the brunch on Saturday. Picture by Khemari Howard.

The small turnout for Florida Tech’s first Pride Week encouraged better planning for the event in the future, Spectrum members said.

Pride Week is a week-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community at Florida Tech hosted by Spectrum, Florida Tech’s group for members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies on campus.

Jacob Chesslo, a junior physics major and the president of Spectrum, said Pride Week, in its first iteration, had lower attendance numbers than expected.

He said the lack of attendance could be due in part to the organization not being able to advertise the event effectively.

Participants at the drag show hosted by SPECTRUM.

He also said the group didn’t take advantage of other resources on campus such as Greek life, residence life or athletics to advertise events like sex ed boot camp.

Chesslo said another factor that could have led to low attendance numbers was the week the group chose.

Chesslo said one of the common calculus tests coincided with sex ed boot camp, which he said he believed led to a small turnout.

Hannah Blackburn, a senior astrobiology major, said along with many people she knew falling ill in the past week, the senior design showcase was approaching, which may have consumed time for her and her colleagues.

She also said starting the event on April 1 probably wasn’t the best idea.

“In retrospect, we probably should have gone for a different day,” Blackburn said. “Maybe we’ll go for earlier in the year next time.”

Chesslo said the idea of Pride Week was pitched as early as the beginning of last semester, but planning didn’t start until January.

He said the low attendance numbers didn’t discourage him from trying to do better for next year’s event.

“There were probably only about a dozen people at each event,” Chesslo said. “But the experience of all of those who have attended has been amazing.”

Pride Week at Florida Tech took place during the week of April 1.

“Pride is knowing who you are and being happy that that’s who you are. And also, being happy to let other people know that’s who you are,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn was the former president of the Spectrum.

She assisted Chesslo with most of the planning for the week.

She said the group was inspired by the efforts of similar groups on other campuses around Florida.

The idea to host Pride Week was originally Chesslo’s idea.

Each night featured a different event hosted by the group.

The week started with a movie night on Monday, April 1, followed by the president of Space Coast Pride, Cortney Thompson, as the keynote speaker on Tuesday.

A game night was held on the second floor of the SUB Café on Wednesday. Thursday saw sex ed boot camp in the Hartley Room.

The event scheduled for Friday, Pride Celebration, was canceled due to the increased lighting that came with the weather.

Saturday morning, the group hosted brunch in the Harley Room catered by Panther Dining, and a drag show in the evening at the Rathskeller.

Sunday was a spa day on the second floor of the SUB Café in the morning followed by a beach outing later in the afternoon.

Chesslo said he and the rest of the group are already planning for next year’s event.

He said this event was something he dreamed up and he never thought he’d see it come to fruition.

Chesslo said he believes this is a step in the right direction for the increased awareness and inclusion for the people of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Us” Movie Review

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After 2017’s “Get Out,” Jordan Peele came out with another twisted, bizarre splash of comedy and thriller in his latest movie “Us.”

Official movie poster by Universal Pictures.

There are several ways to interpret this movie due to all the clues you may see.

The movie starts off pretty interesting with a young girl finding her doppelganger in the woods.

Only to find out that young girl was the main character battling against her doppelganger at an older age throughout the film.

You may recognize the actors of Adelaide and Gabe Wilson as they were also actors in the Marvel Studios film “Black Panther.”

It was very interesting to see how they went from acting in an action-packed movie like “Black Panther” then coming back acting in a thriller movie.

One thing was for sure, they really surprised me in how diverse their acting skills are.

Throughout the film, the Bible verse Jeremiah 11:11 is seen.

The verse says “Therefore this what the Lord says: I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.”

With that being said, that verse should help give clues on certain things you may see within the movie.

Jordan Peele did a great job in selecting the cast he chooses because they had to take on two roles within the movie and did a great job.

The regular family is what looked to be a middle-class African American family with college-educated parents.

So you can see them speak as they are a well-educated family. Then having to play a role as a doppelganger who is completely opposite.

The ability to display both normalities in the Wilsons and pure evil in the doppelgangers was astonishing.

However, the person who deserves much recognition and an award for their acting is none other than Lupita Nyong’O herself. You’ll see why once you watch the movie.

Jordan Peele’s uprise as a director and writer is beginning to blossom.

I’m sure you all have seen his comedy skits in the Key and Peele series.

With how the skits are made, you can see very brilliant stories, but never would I have thought that it could transition into great movies as well.

Peele incorporates horror, comedy and special twists in his movies.

He gives the audiences a chance to look back and think about the movie.

To think of things that do pertain to the real world. Not many directors do that with theirs.

“Us” is definitely a movie that needs to be watched more than once to get a full understanding of the film.

A Horrible Review – Fourth Life considered greatest game in human history

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After seven years of development and crowdfunding, Best Games Studios has finally fulfilled its promise of “creating the game that everyone dreamed of.”

Fourth Life is a massive multiplayer online first-person role-playing action survival sandbox simulation sports shooter real-time strategy battle royale game that has the most innovative game-play mechanics the world has ever seen.

Unlike other game developers, the people at Best Games Studios understand and know what the gaming community wants for their games.

Instead of choosing inferior and obsolete gaming platforms such as PCs and consoles, the developers of Fourth Life wanted everyone to enjoy the game and have made the decision to release exclusively on mobile because “everyone has a phone.”

The processing power and the state of the art hardware of smartphones are capable of handling the otherwise impossible engine that the game runs on for around 30-45 minutes, depending on the player’s preferred phone of choice.

If the player decides to get the Ultimate Deluxe Collector’s edition of Fourth Life for $300, the game will also come with a compact-portable power bank which will extend the possible play time.

Now let us talk about what makes Fourth Life so special: the game-play.

In Fourth Life, the player gets to choose to be whatever they want to be.

The forward-thinking developers of the game have added over 500 gender and sexual orientations for the players to choose from, such as Attack Helicopters, Goats, Pizza and Chairs.

The players are even allowed to customize the look of their character pixel by pixel, which is the true character building that everyone wanted.

After choosing what or who they want to be, the players are thrown into the immersive world of Fourthland, a place where magic and technology coexist and the world is open for the players to explore.

At the very start of the game, the players have to find a purpose for themselves as the game heavily emphasizes on making your own choice, which means that there are no set objectives and no real NPCs to interact with the players.

However, with a small fee of $30 per month, the player is able to access additional features of the game such as crafting and learning magic.

On top of the monthly subscriptions, the players can also purchase in-game currency to participate in what is probably the most exciting and addictive game mode of all time: Loot Roulette.

Unlike the questionable loot boxes that some other game companies have been implementing, the Loot Roulette is a perfectly fair and balanced mode that allows the players to acquire loot by playing the in-game roulette.

Although the win rate and chances of Loot Roulette were not posted by the developers of the game, Best Games Studios has assured players that the roulette is perfectly balanced because it functions just like a real-world roulette.

Aside from the breath-taking Loot Roulette game mode, the game also has a very competitive and advanced battle royale mode.

Unlike most popular battle royal games before the launch of Fourth Life, the battle royale mode of the game has completely removed the element of luck, as this would make the game unfair and not fun to play.

Instead, the players can use the in-game currency they’ve purchased to choose accurately where they’ll be dropping and what kind of loot they will acquire, a truly fair and open battle royale indeed.

Fourth Life is a completely perfect and functional game that will just keep improving by itself.

Even the developers at Best Games Studios have claimed to stop any further development and maintenance of the game shortly after its release because of how perfect it is.

To conclude, I’ll give Fourth Life the highest score and recommendation: 10/10; it’s all right and the only entertainment you will ever need.

“The Hidden World” keeps up the momentum in How to Train Your Dragon

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Official movie poster by Dreamworks.

They always say, the sky’s the limit – unless you’re a professional dragon rider, of course.

The grand finale of Dreamworks Animation Studios’ “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy landed in theaters Friday, Feb. 22.

It received a score of 92% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and earned more than $466.50 million in box office sales in less than a month.

In the final chapter of this story, Berk village chief Hiccup is intent on building a peaceful dragon utopia with his girlfriend Astrid and beloved Night Fury dragon, Toothless.

However, a mysterious female dragon draws Toothless away and is soon dubbed a “Light Fury.”

At the same time, a ruthless dragon hunter named Grimmel has his sights set on killing Toothless, the last living Night Fury.

With Grimmel on his tail and his civilization at stake, Hiccup must save his people and all of dragonkind and make a choice that will change the course of his life.

Once again, Dreamworks has put together a fantastic film that is sure to win hearts everywhere.

The “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise has been the most well-received that the company has ever produced.

The first and second films scored 98% and 92% Fresh and grossed $495.8 million and $621.5 million, respectively, averaging to 94% Fresh and totalling over $1.5 billion.

The story is phenomenal; it gave me everything that I expected out of it and so much more.

This film flawlessly depicts important lessons about love and coming to terms with loss.

Its comedy was also spoton: not too much, not too little.

Every joke landed and the typical potty humor overload in Dreamworks films was entirely absent, as with the first two films.

The ending of the film was perfect as well, and it connects the films to the real world in a way that I wasn’t expecting.

And of course, I can’t write a review on a “How to Train Your Dragon” movie without talking about Toothless.

Toothless continues to be one of the most loveable characters in animation, with his personality and mannerisms further exemplifying just how adorable he is.

Speaking of the animation, the quality of the graphics is astounding; the fact that you can see every little freckle on the characters’ faces and every individual hair and the roughness of each dragon scale.

Combined with the almost photorealistic water, you’d have to wonder if Dreamworks managed to borrow Pixar’s water guy.

My only complaint? That we most likely won’t get to see another fully-fledged film.

“How to Train Your Dragon” is, and always will be, one of the best animation franchises.

With three movies, multiple television shows, and tons of merchandise, it’s hard to see its popularity fading anytime soon.

A Casual Review – Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice: A beautiful and harrowing experience

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Official game poster by Ninja Theory.

Hellblade is a game that’s not very well-known to many but highly recommended by people who have played it.

Developed and published by Ninja Theory, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is an action-adventure game that was released back in 2017.

The game has surprisingly high production value considering that it was made by a very small team of developers.

In Hellblade, the player sees the world through the eyes of Senua, a Pict warrior who has embarked on a journey to Helheim hoping to save the soul of her dead lover from the Norse goddess of death, Hela.

Before I proceed to evaluate the game, it is worth mentioning that Hellblade is really not what it claims to be on the surface, and I personally think the game is more of an experience than a simple game: The player’s eyes will be deceived, and the mind will be challenged.

On a technical standpoint, Hellblade has met almost all the requirements to be a good AAA title.

The graphics are stunning, the sound designs are incredible and the gameplay is fun and immersive.

The game is relatively short compared to most modern games and is also very linear.

On average the game should only take around 6-8 hours to finish, but I have to say that it was the most memorable six hours I’ve ever experienced.

In general, Hellblade is an exploration game rather than an action game.

The player will spend most of their time walking around and solving puzzles instead of hacking down monsters or demons.

However, when there is combat, it is very fun and engaging; the actions are smooth and the controls are easy to master.

It is hard to explain what the game really is about without spoiling major plots of the story, but it is worth noting that the game has many metaphorical meanings behind almost everything.

Like mentioned earlier, the player’s eyes will be deceived, and the mind will be challenged.

The starting screen of the game advises the player to put on headphones, which is very important if the player wishes to better understand the story of the game.

There is also a short documentary that the player can choose to watch in the main menu of the game.

On top of showing how the game was made, the documentary will also help the player to understand the game better.

Overall, I think Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a game really worth playing if anyone is looking for an atmospheric or interesting game to play.

Turn off the lights, put on headphones and just let the game tell its story.

Captain Marvel Review – A great way to spend International Women’s Day

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Official movie poster by Marvel.

Captain Marvel delivered action, humor and heartfelt storytelling that can be enjoyed by hardcore Marvel fans, as well as people new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Something Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel’s directors and screenwriters, achieved better than previous Marvel creators was the balance between humor and seriousness.

While this certainly wasn’t the most serious Marvel movie ever created, it also wasn’t as lighthearted as movies such as Ant-Man or Thor: Ragnarok.

The balance of tension and humor made it a funny and emotional watch without it feeling too heavy.

Additionally, the events in Captain Marvel tied in perfectly with last spring’s blockbuster, Avengers: Infinity War, filling in some of the gaps and setting things up for the next Avengers movie.

However, it never felt like the movie was made just to explain Infinity War or the upcoming movie, Avengers: Endgame; it could stand on its own as a great movie.

As the movie was set in 1995, directors brought in a mix of new and old characters.

Brie Larson played Carol Danvers, otherwise known throughout the film as Vers and Captain Marvel.

As both a no-nonsense and quick-witted character, Larson’s character was a refreshing take on superheros and was more balanced than others have been in the past.

Her training taught her to be tough and efficient during fights, but her sarcastic personality came through in everyday situations.

While Larson’s character was definitely the central focus, the supporting characters were dynamic and added both humor and emotion.

Samuel L. Jackson reprised his role as a Shield Agent, Nick Fury.

There was a younger, dorky quality to his character that made him more relatable than in previous movies and broke the tension in serious moments.

His relationship with Goose, a cat that joins him and Danvers for most of the movie, was unexpected and hilarious.

Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), Danvers’ best friend from the Air Force, added emotional interest to Danvers’ backstory and stood on her own as a dynamic character.

The bond she shared with Danvers was strong and connected the viewer to her immediately.

Additionally, Rambeau’s relationship with her daughter was sweet and help round out her character.

A character with an interesting arc was Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), the leader of a group of aliens called Skrulls who invaded Earth.

His character development was unexpected and a refreshing twist on typical villains. Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) was a tough mentor for Danvers.

While his character arc wasn’t particularly original, it fit the story well and led to an exciting conclusion.

The music throughout the film added to the story.

The score, composed by Pinar Toprak, helped add tension and emotion without becoming a distraction.

Additionally, the use of songs from the 90’s helped make the movie feel more realistic and added a fun element to certain scenes.

The visuals were fairly good.

Most of the movie takes place on Earth, although a portion of it takes place in outer space and on another planet.

There weren’t any moments where the CGI was glaringly obvious, though if you paid attention, you might have noticed it a few times.

The costuming for the Skrulls could have been slightly more well-polished; there were several times when the costume was distracting when it should have fitted seamlessly with the character.

Overall, Captain Marvel was a fresh spin on typical Marvel tropes and created a great original movie with the MCU’s first female lead.