Green Phoenix - Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Review

A few weeks back, Red Diamond and I decided to check out the new Sonic the Hedgehog film. While I initially had no plans to review this particular film, I felt motivated to do so after seeing all the effort on the part of the production to...correct...some rather infamous glaring issues.

Video game films tend to have a, not all undeserved, reputation for terrible quality and when this film was first announced last year, it looked like that statement would continue to hold water.

And it all had to do with the design of Sonic himself.

Being as honest and as frank as possible, Sonic looked like absolute dogshit in the very first teaser posters and trailers. Looking far too cartoony to be real but far too realistic-looking to ever be considered cartoon cute, the original Sonic design essentially took a massive deuce in the uncanny valley.

And the internet made sure that absolutely everybody knew about it.

It was actually kind of incredible to watch a video game movie implode before it even reached the theatres in real-time. The design of Sonic could've very nearly sunk the entire project just from the teaser alone. It was then that the production team behind the Sonic the Hedgehog film decided to delay the film's release and completely revamp Sonic's design.

The result is what was delivered to theatres. A level of post-production on this scale for a video game movie due to public backlash is almost unheard of. And it is an incredible achievement what the CGI artists were able to accomplish. I felt like I had to support such a project.

Perhaps studios would listen to real audience feedback instead of "supposed" audience feedback.

So how did the film turn out? Is it an amazing work of art? Or is it like nearly every other video game movie?

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Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger Number 49: As Thieves, As Police

The story is wrapping up. Everything is changing and the biggest challenges are coming fast. So, let's not waste time, click "read more" for my full coverage.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (Super Nintendo) Review.

We're finally here! The fourth (and final) part of this month long journey covering the video game adaptations of the Power Rangers Movie games.  If you haven't read those previous reviews yet, you must do so right now.  I command you to!  They are pretty great! 
Now that you're done reading them (or giving me a free view because you pity me), we are at the most crazy, insane, and bat-sh*t game out of the bunch.  This is the Super Nintendo version and oh, boy.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

New Video Game Releases of the Week Spotlights (March 13-17) - Predictions

Like last time, this isn't a fully week because I goofed and was covering 8 days on posts so, I need to let the schedule catch up. But, this is the last time I'm doing that. Now, let's see what's coming out within those 5 days. Also, I'm going to include the game trailers now.

Sonic The Hedgehog (Movie) Review - Red Shard Prime

So I saw Sonic The Hedgehog in theaters on premiere night and a second time and there’s a major flaw with this movie which shows the cast and crew did not do their job properly.  They forgot to make this movie horrible.  Video game based movies are NOT supposed to be good, and by making it good, it means everyone really screwed up here.  So let me explain how they screwed up by making this movie good.

WARNING: MILD SPOILERS IN IMAGES AND WRITING!

Farewell to Writers

Hello internet, Red Diamond here with a quick message. I just want to inform anyone curious that Orange Scarab and Fenris The Rogue have decided to step down due to personal life problems and losing motivation to write. I would like to personally thank them for everything they have done for the website and wish them luck in life. You will be missed greatly.

Green Phoenix - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

Growing up, I had three great passions. Each of these passions was born out of a piece of media.

The first of my passions was Paleontology. Born of my love of the Jurassic Park franchise, I absolutely adored dinosaurs and desired to learn everything about them. I once even challenged a paleontology major college student (my second grade teacher's son) to a dinosaur naming contest and won.

My second passion was Astronomy. I adored stories of space travel and exploration. Star Trek and Star Wars captivated my childhood and has continued to form a core to my futurist tendencies.

My third passion was Archaeology. And given the title of this article, you can probably imagine which series influenced this passion. The Indiana Jones franchise built a love of history and alternate history that has only grown stronger as my knowledge of history grew with my education. Until I was in High School, there was a genuine part of me that wanted to go into archaeology as a profession.

Naturally, my dislike of busywork and the realities of being an archaeology teacher or museum curator (the only profitable jobs that an archaeology major could reasonably acquire) nipped much of that in the bud. But the love and appreciation for this film remained, especially as my passion turned to film-making and I learned the history of some of my favorite childhood films.

Like how Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was a collaborative passion project between George Lucas, the director and creator of Star Wars, and Steven Spielberg, the director and force behind...basically the best films of the 1980s and 1990s. Much like Star Wars was inspired by George Lucas' love of Flash Gordon sci-fi serials, Indiana Jones was inspired by the treaure hunter and explorers of 1930s and 40s serials, as well as the romance and danger of characters like Alan Quartermain and James Bond.

Lucas wrote the initial draft, then called The Adventures of Indiana Smith. but shelved the idea for many years, as the means and method to create such a series of films were outside of his capacity. Initially wanting Clint Eastwood for the role of Indiana Jones, prior commitments on Eastwood's part to the film The Outlaw Josey Wales, and the development of The Empire Strikes Back being shifted to a different director to Lucas, would see Lucas and Spielberg team up with Harrison Ford to bring a brand new adventure franchise to life.

To phenomenal success. It is no exaggeration to state that the Indiana Jones franchise fundamentally shifted much of the public perception around adventure blockbusters and even the archaeological profession. Just as Star Trek and Star Wars inspired astronomers and Jurassic Park inspired paleontologists, Indiana Jones has become the benchmark for future archaeologists.

And for very good reason.

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