QUICK THOUGHTS: Mortal Kombat Red Band Trailer

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I know I haven’t been on this blog for a while, but I have resurfaced for a good reason. Recently the gods graced us with goodness in the form of a red band trailer for the elusive upcoming video game adaptation of Mortal Kombat. So today I am here to share my casual thoughts on the trailer via my podcast Film Focus.

In episode 115 of Film Focus, I share with you my thoughts on the first red band trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat film. Now normally I don’t do trailer reviews on the podcast, but considering how long I waited for footage for this film and how much hype, caution and curiosity I have about this film as well, I had to show up and say something. So join me for some casual thoughts on how I think the film is looking so far.

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 115 – Mortal Kombat Red Band Trailer

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen the first trailer for Mortal Komabt and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Video Game Adaptations Part 1

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, hope you are all well. So after many months and years of waiting and retooling, I finally get to cover part 1 of a topic that’s very special to me; Video Game Adaptations via my podcast Film Focus.

Now I am extremely passionate about video game adaptations as I believe they have the potential to be the next big genre in Hollywood if the right IPs are adapted with the right filmmakers. Alas since their inception there has been a lot of missteps in translating their unique elements from games to film.

So I wanted to look back at the first wave of video game films from the ’90s and have a casual analysis about 5 films and discuss:

• When the came out
• Their pros and cons
• How they were adapted from their source material

I had a lot of fun making this and you’ll probably hear the passion in my voice from how loud I can be on occasions haha. So join me on a trip down memory lane as we dive into the early period of video game adaptations.

Timecodes:

05:32 Super Mario Bros. Movie
15:17 Double Dragon
21:46 Street Fighter
30:21 Mortal Kombat
44:30 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
53:34 Conclusion

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 108 – Video Game Adaptations Part 1

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen any of these films and if so what did you think of them? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, today I return after an extended absence to deliver my review for Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 101 of Film Focus, I talk about the latest adaption from the world of Mortal Kombat in the form of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge. Now I am a big fan of this franchise and I have been interested in watching this film since the first trailer dropped online in January 2020. It was a 2D animated MK film with an R rating that focused on Scorpion and the first MK tournament? Yeah, sign me up! So is this a good representation of MK or not? Well, check out this spoiler-free review to find out.

P.S. Sorry for the change in mic quality as my normal set up is back in Canada.

Anyway here’s the review:

Also if you’re interested in my thoughts on the upcoming live-action Mortal Komat film you should check out this episode as well:

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

PODCAST: Hopes & Fears For Mortal Kombat (2021)

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I’ve returned with a topic I have wanted to talk about for a while now and it relates to the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot coming out in March 2021. And I’ll be sharing my thoughts via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 91 of Film Focus, I finally get to discuss my hopes and fears for the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot. Now, while I’m not a hardcore fan of the series and have only played a handful of games in a casual capacity, I love the MK series for its characters, mythology, fight mechanics, crazy violence and fatalities. And while I’ve been excited for the possibilities for a new film, especially after James Wan came onto the project as a producer, the way this film is currently forming makes me a little cautious. So join me as I, a casual fan of the series, talks about what I hope the film will and won’t be.

Anyway here’s the review:

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So are you excited for the upcoming Mortal Kombat film and what do you think of my thoughts on the film? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Favourite Songs #19: Praga Khan & Oliver Adams – Mortal Kombat Theme

Howdy people of the interweb, and welcome to the nineteenth edition of my series of blog posts dedicated to some of my favourite songs ever in life. Today we’re gonna talk about one of my favourite songs ever, I know I’ve probably said a few times already but this one truly is special. It’s time to talk about “Mortal Kombat Theme” by Praga Khan & Oliver Adams.

Okay here we go, this is the good stuff! The “Mortal Kombat Theme” song that all nerds get down to and all gaming peeps from the 90’s know about. This song was crafted for the first live action Mortal Kombat film which came out in 1995. I saw the film when I was a kid and obviously I came across this song too and ever since my childhood this has been one of those songs I’ve never forgotten and just loved to get down to.

Check out the this beastly tune of epicness below:

Tell me that this isn’t just the definition of awesomeness? I dunno what it is about this song, but every time it comes on I feel like getting up and going mental! It’s like this crazy club tune, with all the rights beats, vocals and sounds. It is just a beast! Just waiting for the song to start up with the electronic sounds and then 18 seconds in that man shouts out “MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!” And then the song turns up on the heat with its tunes and after the second “MORTAL KOMBAT” shout the song just goes insane! There’s some nice breakdown moments and some cool little parts where the song gets a little quiet where there’s an announcer saying all of the characters names in between the heavy beat moments. Putting everything together makes for one of the most kick ass songs in existence. It is so 90’s and really belongs in the club!

I think I got a newfound love for this song after I came to university as on two occasions I played laser tag with my mates from the game society and got to dance to this while playing. It was SO MUCH FUN! I actually wrote about it which you can read in the blog post here: The Brutality of Quasar/

So to conclude “Mortal Kombat Theme” by Praga Khan & Oliver Adams is just an awesome song no matter which way you look at it. Now even though this song is from the live-action Mortal Kombat wasn’t that good, the theme song has stood the test of time as the one single aspect that was great about the 1995 film. It’s that awesome. And nowadays whenever I hear this song I go into a frenzy and I HIGHLY recommend this tune as it is a piece of 90’s nostalgia and badass music that no one should be without. Period.

Well that’s another song review done, what do you think of this badass 90s tune? Whatever your thoughts are leave me a comment below and be sure to come back next time for another song review yo! 😀

 

Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews: Mortal Kombat II

Howdy people and welcome to Day #16 of my Month of Nostalgic Game Reviews where I’ll be giving you reviews of some of my most nostalgic video games from my childhood. And today I’ll be remembering and reviewing one of the most famous games in history. It was one of the biggest games in the 90s, it really left its mark in gaming history and has a massive legacy behind it… Of course I am talking about Mortal Kombat II!

Now you may be asking how comes I’m not reviewing the first Mortal Kombat? Well while I did play that game, MKII was the first game in the series I played and owned and I never played the first game until I went over to my friend’s house. Plus my memories with the first game aren’t as strong, plus I don’t love it nearly as much as MKII. anyways let’s begin shall we?

So Mortal Kombat II was a fighting game released in arcades in 1993 and then ported to home consoles the following year. Like the first game, MKII is a fighting game where you fight in one-on-one matches where there’s two rounds, in which your objective is fight your opponent by depleting their life bar and when it’s empty you win the round. Win both rounds and you win the match. When you depleted your enemies life bar they’d go into a dizzy state where the game would tell you to “FINISH HIM!” or her, at which point you’d be able to pull off a finishing move known as Fatality where you’d kill your opponent in a gruesome and creative manner. You got to take control of one of several who all had specific special attacks, but all moved the same way in terms of punches and kicks, jumps, speed and height, with a few differences when it came to speed and range.

However in MKII, there are many more improvements and innovations that were implemented like:

• There were five new characters introduced in the form of Baraka, Jax Briggs, Kitana, Kung Lao and Mileena, bringing the total roster of fighters from 7 in the first game to 12 in this one.

• Returning characters were given new special moves.

• There were new standard fights moves introduced in this game like: a crouching punch, different high and low kicks depending on whether one was crouching or standing up, and the roundhouse kick was made more powerful and knocks an opponent across the screen.

• The gameplay was faster and smoother than before.

• This game introduced more than one type of Fatality, excluding the basic Fatality there were 3 more added like: Babalities (turning the opponent into a crying baby), Friendships (a non-malicious interaction, such as dancing or giving a gift to the defeated opponent) and stage-specific Fatalities (the winner uppercutting his or her opponent into an abyss below, spikes in the ceiling, or a pool of acid in the background).

When this game came out in arcades it was a very big deal. Fans of the original wanted more and they got it. MKII was one of the most successful games of the 90s and that success only increased after the game was released on home consoles. On the day of the games release it sold 2.5 million copies which was unprecedented at the time and the game continued its commercial success by going on to sell over $50 million in sales for cartridge consoles. It won a number of awards from many gaming publications and was critically acclaimed with most gaming publications including IGN, Computer + Video Games, Sega Visions, The Baltimore Sun and Complex to name a few. The game was also absurdly controversial because of the violent nature of the game and its Fatalities, the first game helped pave a way for the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) game rating system in 1994. And with MKII the controversy only continued, there were many complaints and court cases, with the game becoming more popular because of it. The games been noted as one of the most important games in history and has also found itself in many lists of the best games of all time.

When it comes to my nostalgic memories with MKII it was magical. Now my parents were very nice in terms of what I got exposed to when I was young. I owned the Sega Mega Drive version of the game and I saw all the blood and carnage and I loved it. And unlike a lot of stupid kids I was never corrupted by it, I just thought it was cool. MKII was one of the most unique and interesting fighting games I played as a kid, I was never really all that good at the game, but that never stopped me from trying. I was a massive fan of Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Raiden, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Liu Kang’s fireballs and bicycle kick was legendary and awesome, Raiden and his electricity attacks was badass, and Scorpion with his grapple move shouting “GET OVER HERE!”, was one of the coolest things to me as a kid. But Sub-Zero was my favourite, he was just a badass fighter who could use ice to freeze people, trip them up and freeze them and smash them to pieces! Even though bare people bash the Genesis/Mega Drive port of the game that’s how I mainly remember the game and I loved it. Graphically it was cool and I loved the music too. And of course that “Toasty!” line that came up with that little man in the corner was hilarious, I remembered that ever since I was young.

In the end Mortal Kombat II was badass and was it was one of the video games that changed the formula for fighting games. It was the main influence was Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and of course was the main influence for the more recent reboot, Mortal Kombat (MK9) for the Xbox 360 and PS3. This game was beautifully gory, fun to play and is classic 90s material. If you still have yet to express this madness go and do it right now! All I can say now is… MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

Well there’s another review for you, hopefully you’re enjoying this so far. Remember to drop me a comment and don’t forget to come back tomorrow to experience some more gaming nostalgia! 🙂

 

Just not feeling the Christmas season

It’s weird, at this time of year I’m normally very happy, besides the Expo and my birthday, Christmas time is when I am at my jolliest and yet in 2011 I feel next to nothing. It’s not like I’m emotionless, but let me put it into this context; I used to love this time of year, it was always about the merry songs, togetherness with family and friends, getting fat over the amounts of food that you would consume and watching specific television shows, oh and getting some presents too 🙂 Though I can’t say I’m an overly materialistic kind of person because I don’t mind what I get for Christmas, heck I don’t mind if I get next to nothing because in the end my general love for this time of year would normally cancel everything else out. As said before I was just in it for the love of the season. But now I’m not bothered, besides seeing family and having time away from uni Christmas this year has been pretty ordinary. I’m sort of happy about it but at the same time I’m not overly fussed.

Christmas should be a jolly time for all, but not for me this year.

Now I can probably see several people coming at me saying “Scrooge! Scrooge!” But you would be wrong on many levels, I have had fun this time around, just like every year but there has been some degree of normality floating around which I haven’t been able to shake. And I think I realise today what the deal is with me. It’s that feeling you get when you realise something is missing. You know that one element that holds everything together which you normally have but don’t at that present moment. And today on Boxing Day I realise what is missing from my world that has made this Christmas so regular and not so special… It’s the magic. That’s right magic, normally at this time of year around early/mid-December there is a feeling in the air that fills your soul with happiness, this is what people interpret as the magic of the Christmas season. While a lot people claim that Christmas has lost its meaning in commercialism and all that jazz. I have never forgotten what Christmas is about. At this time of year we remember the birth of Christ (Jesus Christ for those not aware) and other than that it’s all about being with your family and loved ones and enjoying their company.

But ever since December started I couldn’t get into the groove of things. I mean I knew that Christmas was coming but I never felt anything towards it, it’s like I said to myself “I should be excited but right now I’m not bothered.” So I thought maybe that’s just random feeling. Maybe that’ll pass in time, however the days edged ever closer and my feelings did not change. Though I did get fairly jolly with me flatmates at uni when they busted out some Christmas songs and we would dance around the flat. I thought that would be enough, but even then it wasn’t. So then I thought “If anything will get me in the mood for Christmas it’ll be “Dubstep Santa” by the Daveyboys. That always works.” And so I went on YouTube and watched all 3 Dubstep Santa videos and it was lovely, I was in my element and it was creating this joyful feeling in my soul, so I thought with this maybe the magic will follow. However right up until the week when uni ended back on the 16th I still didn’t feel anything special or magical. Things were still average.

To be honest this is how I felt for the majority of the Christmas season.

So then I figured okay if go back home to familiar territory then in the last week leading up to Christmas everything will be fine, but then the travel back home happened… Ugh. The less said about that the better, I even wrote a blog on it if you wish to see my post about my suffering here: https://hypersonic55.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/my-terrible-episode-with-train-transportation/

So then after I got home I tried to get into that Christmas groove. But the feeling wasn’t coming, the magic wasn’t kicking in. I also didn’t get my normal Christmas stuff done like watching my favourite Christmas films or television specials on TV, DVD or VHS, my schedule was messed up. So over the last week I had been reacquainting myself with my family and meeting up with many friends, some of which I hadn’t seen for months, others I had seen for years. It was beautiful. I even obtained a PS3 after how many years of waiting and I even got back to the cinema for the first time in 3 months! I was having the time of my life. I even went out on Christmas Eve with my friends and even met up with several old mates while I was out, it was a great night and to be honest it was the closest feeling I got to that Christmas magic because I was having fun in the company of friends. 🙂

So then while I was out Christmas Day came and I was in a lovely groove, so with a good feeling in my soul I left my friends in town and headed home around 1am. My sister and I set up the PS3 and played Mortal Kombat 9 for a few hours while opening my presents. So after our little playing session we went to bed. Then we got up a good few hours later, opened the rest of our presents and then headed out London to hang at my Gran’s house which was the main aspect of Christmas that usually rules over everything else. And from there we had loads of food, did a lot of catching up and played card games for ages, none of which I actually won haha. However even after all of the television, food, family fun and games I wasn’t having the time of my life as I usually am, this was just an ordinary time. 😦 I think it also didn’t help that the rest of my cousins, aunts and uncles weren’t there too. In the end this Christmas was fun, I had gotten some fabulous presents and spent some great time with my family. But in the end it was nowhere near as fun or as amazing as the last few years. Unfortunately there was no magic and I wasn’t feeling the season in the way that I should be.

Anyway hope that y’all people of the world had a great Christmas and I’ll catch ya later 😀

 

The Brutality of Quasar!

It’s totally amazing how something as simple a game of Quasar (Laser Tag) can become so much more, and then turn into something out of this world… Given the right circumstances. And luckily enough we were under some of those “circumstances” yesterday when me and several other people ventured through the streets of Sheffield to the local Quasar place for some good old fun. There was so many of us, but we all got in with a game of 17 people versus 17 other people on the red and blue teams. We got the suits on, picked our sides and were told the rules of the game. Most it was obvious and standard procedure, though there was a funny rule that was mentioned was when we were told that “This isn’t Call of Duty, so don’t take it too seriously.” And everybody just laughed and roared in excitement, so you could already tell that the atmosphere had changed to ‘First Person Shooter mode’. We then proceeded upstairs and while heading up someone said exactly what I was thinking, that we all looked like people from Tron: Legacy and that we were heading to “The Grid”. At that point I was totally thinking “Sweet!”

To be honest going into Quasar I felt our battles were going to be as brutal as the disc wars from Tron: Legacy.

So we loaded our guns, walked into the dark, low lit room and started getting into position with a mix of excitement and fear in our minds. That’s the impression that I got personally and what I could see in eyes of my comrades (the red team). So then around 5 minutes later the other team (blue team) came in and the shooting began and I lost a life almost immediately after it started and I was like “What the hell!?!” So then most our team defended our forte from enemy fire while taking out any enemy who ran into our side. We defended pretty well, but the blue team had mad tactics and were pretty crazy and moved around the area in a kamikaze-like fashion, so it was hard to read their movements. Sometimes they just came running in groups and shot down our base with only 3 people. It was mental! And there I was running around like a nutcase trying to avoid enemy fire, but also just going crazy at the same time. I went over-the-top with the acting, yelling all over the place and telling my teammate that I got hit and I was injured. It was hilarious. And all the time there was Daft Punk playing in the background from the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack, it felt so good and felt like it fit into our scenario so well.

Daft Punk you saved my life again! 😀

And so the battle continued and at one point I went corrupt with power and went on a shooting streak and actually shot down a few people and I felt incredible, but then got hit soon after 😦 Eventually the battle ended and the blue team won, much to my dismay; however I felt obliged to do well for the next round. So feeling lonely on the red team I converted to the blue team with the rest of my mates and hoped to bring a new type of pain on a different team.

And so… Round 2 Began!!

With faster shooting ammo and much swifter settings put in place we went in and strangely enough the Daft Punk sounds had left the stereo, but what was playing at the time was even more incredible, it was a heavy metal cover of the Lance Theme from Pokémon Red & Blue. It sounded amazing and I was freaking out. However amidst all of this nerdy freaking out I was getting destroyed, I was losing lives even faster than I before which bugged me immensely. I was even getting hit while behind walls, I was like “What is happening!?” So after around 3 minutes I just gave up and became even more corrupt than the last round and ran out to shoot anyone on the red team, I even ran into their base area and got a few hits in here and there. But unfortunately I was still getting owned and losing lives fast. While this was going on the music that was playing via the stereos was awesome! Firstly I could hear the song “Encounter” from the first Metal Gear Solid and people were getting well happy and then there was the classic battle music from Final Fantasy VII, when that came on I was totally living in memories and felt totally energized to defend our base.

But then the unimaginable came happened… They played the main song from the first live-action Mortal Kombat film. And everybody on the blue team went mad! Me included.

Mortal Kombat FTW again, it’s totally invincible!

We all just started dancing and raving out to the music! Regardless of whether the enemy was firing at us or not we danced away. Obviously we did our job and got shooting, but we were mainly dancing the entire time. Whether we were on our own or in small group, we just ran to where the party was and just started dancing and giving high fives. It even came to the point where there was a massive group of us dancing and then we lead a charge into enemy territory dancing the whole way, it was just incredible. And not long after the battle ended. And when the our team (blue team) saw the score we thought we’d won by a landslide score, however it was misleading scoreboard as we found out that the red team had acquired around 400 more points than we had, hell even my score was worse than the last time. Even though I had a ridiculous amount of fun bouncing along to the sounds of Mortal Kombat, the fact that I lost twice on both teams lead me to believe that I shall never succeed in any form Quasar lol. Oh well at least I still have gaming and sketching 😀

Well that’s it for a another blog post, hope you enjoyed reading it ladies and gents. Peace out! 🙂