Classic Cupcakes

Quick Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful is a prequel to the classic Wizard of Oz and tells the story of how said wizard came to arrive and ultimately rule in the magical land of Oz.

There are many things that I enjoyed about this movie. The beginning section, similar to the original Oz, is in black and white and 4:3 aspect ratio. It tells the back story of man named Oz (played by James Franco), a traveling carnival magician who is struggling to become what he considers to be a “great man”. Fast forwarding a bit, the soon-to-be wizard arrives in Oz and the movie changes to full color and wide screen aspect ratio. Similar to the original Oz movie, this change serves to really highlight the contrast between the real world and the fantastical world of Oz. However, I feel that this is where the movie starts to drift away from the greatness of it’s predecessor.

First and foremost, this movie is extremely CGI heavy. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, I felt that all the CGI detracted from the movie experience somehow considering the original’s legacy. To be fair the CGI was well done, especially the beautiful landscapes when Franco first arrives in Oz.

As far as the plot, I can only describe it as sort of “hum-drum”. I believe that this movie suffers from what I refer to as the “prequel syndrome”, in that as viewers we pretty much know how the story is going to end due to our knowledge of the original. Because of the so-called “prequel syndrone”, the prequel movie can’t really deviate from what we already know about the story which culminates in an ultimately anti-climactic ending (i.e., the Star Wars prequels). This, combined with a plot that is overly dialogue-heavy, filled with extraneous characters and runs for over two hours do not a memorable movie make. I feel that this movie could be highly improved simply by better pacing. As I have said, many of the characters in the movie are irrelevant. Rachel Weisz’s character in particular serves no purpose other than to take up unnecessary screen time.

After viewing Oz the Great and Powerful it took me a while to simply decide whether I liked it or not. I would not call this a bad movie, but merely one that suffers from a weak plot and poor pacing.

Little Nemo Calls for Candy

Little Nemo the Dream Master is not so little any more. He’s all grown up, and he’s finally run out of the magic candy that he used to save Dream Land from the evil Nightmare King. In this video, Little Nemo calls several local candy stores trying to track down some of the magic candy… but has little luck.

Haiku of the Day: Mega Man

Mega Man

Mega Man rules but
I hate disappearing blocks
Just use the Rush Jet 

I’m Batman

Looks like I’m done with this one. I posted a color version as well as a revised b&w version.

Little Nemo WIP 2

I think at this point what I am going to do is take a break from this to work on a commision I received and some other projects.

Little Nemo the Dream Master WIP 1

Worked a little bit on some lineart for Nemo and his lizard friend.

Little Nemo the Dream Master covers

Here are my renditions of songs from one of my favorite NES games, Little Nemo the Dream Master. I covered the themes from the Mushroom Forest level and the Cloud Ruins level. I also uploaded some gameplay videos of the last level, Nightmare Land and the game’s ending.

Thanks to Walk of the Earth Productions for recording and producing the tunes and FoxZerro for performing the gameplay in the vids.

What’s next?

Just posting to let everybody know I haven’t forgotten about this blog and to let you know what I have planned for the near future.

– First of all, I’m happy to announce that my blog has gotten over 1,100 hits! I know that’s not a lot by many site’s standards but it’s definitely more than I expected to get so quickly. My most popular post by far has been my Zero and Trunks 3D Dot Game Heroes characters, lots of people have come here to download them. I’m thinking of doing some more 3DDGH characters, any suggestions? Possibly Magus from Chrono Trigger? To the right are some more in-game pics of Zero.

– The first recordings from my latest music project, aNti-goals, are dangerously close to being completed. To the left is a quick poster I made for my 2/4/11 show using the Cyber Sasquatch artwork.

– I’ve seen a couple movies lately that I would like to do some Quick Movie Reviews for. Be on the lookout for those.

– Artwork will resume. I am currently planning a fanart for a classic video game to go along with my new music.

– I’m closing in on the Bayonetta platinum trophy, just need to beat the game in Infinite Climax mode. Afterwards I will probably post some thoughts on that game and some of it’s trophies.

-If you’re a fighting game fan, this is not news: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will soon be upon us. I’m planning on doing a video review of that game as well as some gameplay videos. Hopefully the game will have a replay channel feature like SSF4 has to make that easier.

That’s it for now, be sure to check back soon!

X-Men: The Arcade Game (PS3) Review

Play as your favorite classic X-men characters.

I want to say that the X-Men Arcade Game is a timeless classic that has aged well and is a satisfying gaming experience by today’s standards. I really want to, but I just can’t. The truth is that this is a game where only old-school gamers need apply. Gameplay-wise, it plays a lot like the original Turtles in Time (not the HD remake). Attacking, throwing, jump kicks and special attacks all work the same way. Be prepared to walk to the right while fending off waves of enemies until you reach the boss.

Remember playing on this beast?

The graphics are not bad. The sprites look surprisingly very sharp and colorful and look great on an HD screen (there is also a smoothing option which I have not tested). The game is very short. My first time playing with a 6 person team we beat the game in less than 25 minutes. Back in the day, you probably never realized this game was so short because you didn’t have enough quarters to get anywhere near the end. This new release has the convenience of unlimited lives/continues, so you should be able to make it through the game with relative ease. Thankfully, the game is fun enough to warrant multiple playthroughs and even has a trophy for beating the game with all 6 characters. Playing this game online is a fun experience (the more the better) and the game’s trophies/achievements are easy to obtain due to the game’s unlimited lives. There is not much standing between you and a 100% completed game aside from your own attention span.

Welcome to DIE!!

This game is fun for someone like me who used to play the original arcade game almost 10 years ago, but I just don’t picture younger gamers playing this and enjoying it; not when there are newer, better beat-em-ups available like Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim, both of which offer much more depth and replayability than this game.

Who will enjoy this game?

• People who remember playing this old-school gem in arcades back in the day.
• People who enjoy playing quick games online with friends.
• People looking for easy trophies/achievements to pad their score.
• Fans of classic X-Men.