Author: Jason Luthor

Been A While

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So it has been one year since I wrote anything to this blog. And on that note I wanted to just check in and say a bit about what the future looks like. Particularly because I will be agent in to book agents over the next few months.

VALOR, my long in-the-works fantasy project, is done. It wrapped up in April after multiple edits and I am now in the middle of sending it out to agents. Took a break because, surprise! I was so inspired I wrote all of Book 2 over the course of two months in the summer.

It was brilliant and amazing, and I am looking forward to pushing the series. With that said, I have to get active here. I would like to record my thoughts regarding games, movies, all sorts of media that comes out. I won’t be able to do that if I keep procrastinating. So, here’s to a good 2026. I hope I can be much more committed this time.

Superman (2025) – The Luthor Review

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Superman may be the most comic book movie I’ve ever seen in my life.

Superman talks to Krypto while a robot watches.
You won’t see many movies with flying dogs.

Unless you’ve been living on another planet, then you’ve heard that a new Superman film was coming out. Directed by James Gunn, this new film arrives at a time when love for the superhero genre has faded. Which is interesting in the sense that this new film embraces comic books to a degree that I’m not sure any other comic based film has. Guardians of the Galaxy, another James Gun product, also embraces the weirdness of comic books. Yet I’m not even sure that film comes close to embracing the full strange scope of what comics can be in the same way that the new Superman film does.

Consider the following unique parts about the film. A super powered dog, Krypto, who flies and wears a mini-cape. A series of robots, all themselves wearing capes, simply called “The Superman Robots.” A giant interstellar octopus thing that superheroes fight outside the windows of skyscrapers while people inside carry on as if life is normal. That’s before you talk about pocket dimensions, interdimensional rifts, and artificial black holes. Superman as a film is not afraid to embrace all the pseudo scientific weirdness that is a part of comic books.

Krypto carries Superman by his cape.
Krypto the flying dog is a weird bit of comic history. But adorable.

But that’s all just the window dressing, the world in which the story unfolds. And the story isn’t a complicated one. It has small “twists” but from the start, you know who the villains are. You know who the good guys are. There are no spy-level twists or any international intrigue that will keep you wondering about what’s really going on until the last moment.

No. This movie is about Superman, also known as Clark Kent, and his nemesis, Lex Luthor. Of course, these two are surrounded by a great cast of characters, but the movie is chiefly interested in exploring the two differing world views of its main hero and villain. Lex can be summarized by envy and selfishness. Clark can be summarized by hope and selflessness. From these differing qualities, they affect the world in vastly different ways. The film is clear about how unchecked ambition and selfishness can destroy the lives of others. On the other hand, the film is also quite clear that selflessness and setting an example for others can lead to acts of heroics by others that can also positively affect the world.

Superman argues with Lex Luthor.
Every time Lex and Clark meet up, you can feel the gulf between them.

So who are those other characters? Well, Lex is primarily surrounded by the overly cheerful Ms. Teschmacher, Ultraman, and the Machinist, in addition to a gang of minor sycophants who act as his office team. Clark, on the other hand, has the Daily Planet team of characters such as Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson. However, as Superman, he also has the Justice Gang, consisting of Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific. Luthor’s behavior, in the end, is destructive and pushes people away. Clark’s behavior, on the other hand, inspires people to be better.

The crew of the Daily Planet stare at the camera in shock.
Lois is the clear leader of the Daily Planet crew, but they’re all incredible.

Of this cast, Lois Lane and Mr. Terrific are two of the most standout characters. Lois explicitly draws a contrast between herself and Clark from the start of the film. They’re very different people who see the world quite differently, because they are quite literally from different worlds. That doesn’t make Lois a bad person, just very human, distinct, and truly an emblem of the hard hitting reporter who is after the truth. Mr. Terrific, on the other hand, is one member of the Justice Gang. Terrific’ s existence, he claims, is to live for technology with little interest in human emotions. He just happens to be on the good side. But Mr. Terrific, throughout his appearances, strikes me as among the most human members of the cast. His interactions with literally everyone, from Guy Gardner to Lois to Superman himself, always are highlights of the film.

The only major con I can see to myself is how busy it is, and how it’s paced. Personally, I had absolutely zero issues with the pacing and rapid sequences. But your mileage will definitely very. The movie starts in media res, with Superman having just come off a beating, and the film never lets up from there. We’re rapidly introduced to multiple conflicts and characters over the first 30 minutes that lead into the main conflict that will occupy the last hour and a half of the film. That first 30 minutes will definitely be rough for non comic fans. It will also most likely be rough for those who have difficulty following fast paced films. It will definitely strike some as disjointed, though I had no problems following the thrust of that first half hour, and understood it was setting up what was to come over the following hour. Yet I will also admit that it may be difficult for some viewers.

The Justice Gang consisting of Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific swoop into Metropolis.
The Justice Gang have a bad name, but great powers and hilarious rapport.

On the other hand, there have been some criticisms about the film I simply cannot understand. I do not think James Gunn undercuts emotional moments with humor. In fact, I think that he lets those moments sit quite long enough. It’s simply that at some point the scene switches to something less dramatic. That’s simply scene transition, and the conflict is not undermined by those transitions. New scenes add to what came before as separate storylines begin to come together as the last conflict builds. I also don’t believe this movie doesn’t take Superman seriously enough. I truly believe anyone who thinks so just wanted a repeat of a grim, unhappy Superman. There are multiple times when Superman fully demonstrates the seriousness of the situation and his commitment to human life. He demonstrably saves people time and again, he struggles with his identity, he fights back over and over from the threshold of defeat. And Superman repeatedly emphasizes what he is about and his raison d’etre, no more greatly summarized than when Lex and Clark have two speeches that mirror each other, except with each espousing a different ethos.

But if you want to know how this movie hit me, I can summarize it like this. I set my phone down and never looked at it once. I laughed at all the great jokes. I felt my heart swell at the brave moments. I felt my heart beat when Lois and Clark struggled and grew their relationship. And I cried multiple times before the film came to its tremendous end.

Superman and Krypto watch the Earth from the moon.

Superman is in theaters now.

TV Review: Fallout

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A great example of a game adapted for television, that still exists as its own thing.

“War. War never changes.”

These four simple words have been carved onto the minds of a generation of gamers. Almost two generations, by now. The original Fallout came out on PC in 1997 and was soon followed by a sequel. Though the series went into hibernation for a short while, it returned, re-conceptualized and modernized for a new audience. Fallout 3 and its DLC, New Vegas, invited old players to return to the world of Fallout while bringing in a younger generation. Since then, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 have continued the heritage of the game, exploring a post-apocalyptic future where bizarre creatures and outlandish technology blend with a horrorscape that acts as a tribute to man’s hubris.

The changes that marked the series’ evolution from the first Fallout to the most recent entries were not always celebrated. The first games were trimetric perspective role playing games in which players were given a great deal of freedom with their character builds and the way they responded to in-game characters. The latter games switch to first person perspectives and reduced some of the freedom in favor of storytelling and gunplay.

Yet what has remained constant about the Fallout series has been its odd blend of humor, horror, and sheer outlandishness. The Fallout world is set in the post-apocalypse, one in which the world is a nuclear wasteland. A war between the United States and its enemies led to global nuclear war, and the United States, by the 2100s, is a shell of itself. The government has long collapsed, independent republics have sprang up, factions fight for control, and the majority of the country is covered in radiation, deserted wastes, and mutated monsters. This is normally where the plot of one of the games would set the player loose into the world. In the Fallout television series, it is instead three unique individuals who become the cornerstones around which a new Fallout story is told.

Cooper, Maximus, Ella, and Dogmeat on the cover of the Fallout poster.
Ella, Cooper, Maximus, and Dogmeat make for interesting heroes of the Wasteland.

In telling you about these characters, it’s also possible to tell you a little bit about the factions that inhabit the Fallout world. Cooper, the revolver firing, cowboy looking Ghoul is a bounty hunter. In a world without laws, he takes what he can get to survive. He’s also a Ghoul, which in the world of Fallout, means it’s difficult to kill him because he’s essentially already dead.

Maximus is a shy, reluctant member of the Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood is a paramilitary group founded by remnants of the U.S. Army after the war that makes it its mission to preserve advanced technology. As a member, Maximus’ job is to make sure only the Brotherhood has possession of this technology, since humans have shown they can’t be trusted with it.

And finally, there’s Ella, a Vault Dweller. Vault Dwellers are at the core of almost every Fallout game. To save humanity from war, Vault-Tec created vaults around the country to ensure humanity would survive. In most Fallout games, time and circumstance forces one of the inhabitants of the vault up to the surface to become a hero of the Wasteland. It’s no different for Ella, the naive Vault Dweller who is forced from her home to search the wastes for clues to her past.

You may have noticed a dog in that picture, too. That’s Dogmeat. Don’t worry. Everyone loves Dogmeat.

Cooper, Ella, and Maximus, from Fallout.
Cooper, Ella, and Maximus represent three different ideologies in Fallout.

Three people in a nuclear wasteland, some fighting for factions, some fighting for themselves. The show thrives when these characters are pitted against one another, because each represents a different philosophy. In a world as bleak as the Wasteland, the show often asks the audience which of these characters is best suited to survive. The show also asks whether surviving is enough. Maximus often represents a pragmatic middle ground, a character who reluctantly does as he’s asked and tries to balance being kind with the cruel reality of his existence. Cooper has no qualms about being as vicious as necessary in order to get what he wants and survive in a world that does not care about who makes it out alive. And Ella represents an almost naively bright source of hope, someone who continues to try and find the good in people and situations long after others give up. These conflicting ideologies and characteristics make interactions between these characters that much more dynamic, and each is pursuing the same goal for vastly different reasons. The viewer is asked to decide which ideology they most align with.

The show cannot be divorced from its settings and environment, of course. The game series thrived partly because of the unique world it created, and the show benefits from the same. Irradiated bears that can claw through steel represent one threat in this world. Gigantic mutated behemoths form another. Brains contained in jars give a form of life eternal for some, while hovering multi armed robots serve as assistants to people in the Wasteland. These interesting and unique creatures all work within the context of the show because it is very true to its gaming roots. It tells an intriguing narrative from start to finish. However, that narrative is one part humor, one part horror, one part ultra violence. Genuine, heart touching conversations happen, with genuinely hilarious scenes. These are broken up by mysterious and creepy segments in which the remnants of the old United States are explored and horrific ancient experiments uncovered. And when violence breaks out, death happens in brilliant and joyously excessive ways. If you are squeamish, these fight scenes may be a bit too much.

Ella stepping from the vault and into a rundown industrial section of the world.
The world outside the Vaults is both simultaneously beautiful and horrific.

The Fallout games worked because they balanced these different aspects so well, and the show does the same. While a central story line ties all eight episodes together, the focus of the show is on the individual experiences of each of the protagonists as they navigate the Wasteland. Their stories unfold as they essentially chase a McGuffin. At times this may seem to create for an unfocused viewing experience, but the show is not interested in telling a tight, compact story as much as it is exploring its intriguing world as experienced through the lens of each of its central characters. It’s a journey worth taking, and one you should go on with these intriguing individuals.

Fallout is available on Prime Video.

TV Review: FROM

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You’re not watching it. And you should be. There are things that go bump in the night.

There are specific kinds of shows that work for specific kinds of people. One of the most popular formats to emerge in the last two decades was the “mystery box” format. In television, a mystery box show is any show that starts with a lot of mysteries up front. A mystery isn’t any good without people to explore them, so mystery box shows often feature a diverse cast and complex plot that not only explores the mysteries of the show but also the relationships between the people in that show. Very often, people will be having to deal with each other while tugging on the ends of different strings that could unravel the mystery.

This format was popularized by LOST, one of the most influential shows in television history. To recap, in that show, passengers aboard an airliner crashed on an island. That island inexplicably had Egyptian statues, polar bears, shadow monsters . . . You name it, and the island probably had it. And those mysteries were explored by beloved cast members such as Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and others. They argued, fell in love, and did their best to escape from an island that didn’t want to let them go.

Now, listen to the premise of FROM. People from throughout America inexplicably end up detoured while driving and end up in a small town in the Midwest that they can never escape. That town is populated by monsters that hunt them in the night, mysterious totems that offer the people protection, jukeboxes that turn on despite there being no electricity in the town. And the mystery behind the two is explored by beloved cast members such as Boyd, Jim, and Fatima. They argue, fall in love, and do their best to escape from a town that won’t let them go.

Boyd and Sara look bewildered.
Feeling confused is a permanent state on FROM.

The setup is similar in part because the producers of the show, Jack Bender and Jeff Pinker, were also producers on LOST. Let’s set aside LOST, though, because FROM is its own beast. I think it’s best to start with the setting. The shift to a small, dilapidated town immediately has consequences for the tone of the show. It’s a place where the local painting and wood paneling is slowly rotting away, and where the local swing set is rusty and falling apart. This is a world where everything is used; nothing feels polished. Worse, the entire town is surrounded by woods as far as the eye can see. In a single scene, you feel as if you’ve been transported to a world where only depression can exist. Nothing feels modern. It’s a backwater town cut off from society. Those towns exist in real life, and FROM truly captures the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. The catch, of course, is that you can’t leave.

Anyone choosing to try and leave town ends up looping back into the town. Being stuck, though, is not the worst of everyone’s problems. When they’re not struggling to put together enough food to survive or arguing with each other, the townsfolk are busy trying to survive the horrible monsters that lurk in the woods. Every night, anybody caught outside after dark has a high chance of being slaughtered in some of the most brutal ways possible. This is not a place you want to live, and yet these people are trapped. It would be a hopeless place except, of course, that someone has risen to the occasion to give these people. That brings us to the characters.

Monsters in FROM.
This is not a place you want to be after dark.

FROM has a diverse, ensemble cast with lots of strong performances. However, the story is, at its core, the tale of two men. Boyd Stevens is the appointed sheriff of the town, a man who keeps law and order while making sure that everyone is indoors before nighttime. Boyd’s been around for a while and its clear from how everyone reacts to him that he’s the central pillar keeping the entire town standing. Just how important he is is explored as the first season unwinds, but even from the start, it’s clear that he’s one of the most respected individuals to have ever arrived.

Boyd Stevens ringing the bell.
Boyd Stevens rings the bell each night, calling people home.

The second man at the center of this story is Jim Matthews. More accurately, it could be said that Matthews and his family form the second major character of the story. Jim and his wife, Tabitha, are on a vacation when they find themselves trapped in town along with their son and daughter, Ethan and Julie. I group the Matthews family together because each one of them becomes pretty important to the story, pretty quickly. In fact, each one of them starts to tug at different threads regarding the mystery of why they’re trapped. Jim takes center stage as an engineer devising a way to communicate with the outside world. However, by season two, each other member of the family is exploring a different side of the mystery. Whether that means talking with psychics, drawing visions of what’s to come, or exploring monster dens, every member of the Matthews family gets time in the spotlight.

The Matthews family from FROM.
The Matthews family quickly realizing something is wrong.

It’s impossible to cover just how wide the cast is. You have Fatima, the positive, bohemian type woman who keeps the positive vibes flowing around town. There’s Kenny, all around good guy and deputy to Boyd. There’s another newcomer, Jade, who is a genius scientist trying to save everyone with his technological know how. Then there’s Donna, arguably the third most important person on the show who has, inexplicably, been excluded from exploring the mysteries around town. In many ways, she’s just as important as Boyd.

And because you have such a dense cast, you have lots of time to explore the relationships between characters in between the moments when the plot is moving forward. This is where you can make your own judgement call about whether you will like the show or not. If you need a show that’s driving full force toward resolving its plot at all times, then FROM is not for you. There are very, very intense and scary stretches of the show. However, between them, there is the daily tension that rises between people. Fathers argue with sons, husbands with wives, and these people live under the daily pressures of being trapped with no hope of rescue. When things go tragically wrong and citizens are slaughtered in the night, those tensions rise even higher.

Every character gets a time to shine.

So if you don’t have the patience to sit through the personal drama that exists between these people, you won’t enjoy the show as much. Just the same way as Sawyer, Kate, Locke, and Jack always argued and debated how to move forward, so do the townsfolk. People have preexisting problems with each other that the Matthews family finds itself having to negotiate. And not every episode touches on the overarching plot. In Season One, there’s a good stretch toward the middle dedicated toward really setting up each character and their relationship to the larger town.

But that’s what makes the tense times so tragic. You actually care about the characters once the violence begins. Whether someone dies or is simply left hurting from all of the violence they’re surrounded by, you care. The pacing isn’t always perfect, and the producers are clearly moving along LOST levels of pacing with regard to how they split up a larger plot problem with interpersonal drama. Yet, these characters are very entertaining and contrast against one another in ways that lead to incredible stretches of conversation. And then, not long after, monsters are springing from the forests and phantom ballerinas are dancing through homes while ravens circle the skies.

FROM is available on MGM Plus.

Game Preview: Against the Storm

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An intriguing city builder, though one that still needs some refinement.

I love any games that involves building a city, regardless of the conditions. Sim City? You’re building a city. They Are Billions? You’re building a city to protect it from zombies. Frostpunk? You’re building a city meant to stand against a generational storm that will freeze to death anyone who isn’t properly protected.

So you can imagine that when I saw the premise for Against the Storm that I was intrigued. To break down the general ‘plot,’ as it were, the world is plagued by a recurring storm known as the Blight Storm. The world will be at peace for a few years before this storm wipes out every town and settlement in existence in a process known as the Blight Cycle. When the Blight Storm arrives, the only safe place to flee is to the Smoldering City, where the power of the Scorched Queen is able to hold the Blight Storm at bay. Once the storm is over, people can once again go back out into the world to establish their colonies.

Against the Storm starting colony.
You start from humble beginnings.

This is where the city builder aspect of the game kicks in. As the queen’s viceroy, it’s your job to rebuild the colonies that have been wiped out. As a rogue lite, every cycle resets the game and randomizes what you will find on the map as you engage in a another process of colony building. You start near the Smoldering City, build a colony, and if you are successful, continue to build successful colonies increasingly outward.

What this means for the player is that they must both make decisions on the world map regarding where they want to place their next colony, and then actually build the colony on the colony map. In the world map, you are afforded the chance to use your experience points to buy upgrades from the Smoldering City. You can purchase new buildings, for instance, which makes it easier to establish a colony. Or, you can buy resources that you can use once you enter the colonization phase of the game, making it easier to establish a successful colony.

Against the Storm worldmap.
The world map is where you actually choose the location of your next colony.

The colony map is where you’ll actually be spending most of your game time, however. Every colony is on a timer. Spend too long building the colony and the queen will run out of patience, ending your game. That impatience grows on a timer you can visibly see. However, achieving goals extends the amount of time you have, reducing her impatience. Achieving goals also fills up your achievement bar and, when that’s full, you win the map you’re currently playing on. These achievements typically take the form of goods that are being requested by the Smouldering City. For instance, you may need to put together 10 packs of crops or 15 packs of building materials that will benefit the city and increase your chance of winning the current map. There are other, more interesting ways of building your achievement meter, though. As you carve your way through the woods to make more space for your town, you’ll find abandoned goods you can ship back. Again, not a very intriguing way of building your experience. Much more interesting are the mysterious threats you’ll find.

On your colony map, you’ll encounter glades blocked in by woods. Most of these hold new sources of food or materials for you to acquire. Others, though, hold threats. These dangerous glades can be filled with all kinds of dangers. In my play through, I’ve encountered escaped convicts, ancient heretical totems, abandoned ships, and mysterious temples. Fail to deal with these threats in a timely manner, and you could lose resources. In one instance, I took too long dealing with a mysterious temple we found and malevolent spirits burst out and killed a quarter of my town. How you deal with these threats, though, will influence your game. You could tear down a temple, for instance, and take the goods for yourself. Or, you could plunder its deepest secrets and send what you find back to the Smouldering City. Making decisions that benefit the queen will typically reward you with boosts to your experience meter.

Against the Storm dangerous glades.
Cut your way to the east and you may find a haunted ghost ship, or worse.

The game is still in early access and I do have gripes about the game. There’s a lot of fun in seeing so many types of buildings. For instnace, you can have a tavern, a smokehouse, a cookhouse, a lumber mill, and a cooperage all in addition to more basic buildings like farms and woodcutter camps. Yet a lot of the time, I found myself thinking that many of the buildings felt redundant. You can greatly expand on what’s available to you over time, especially as you upgrade the Smouldering City from the world map, but after about a dozen hours, I felt like there was just a lot of content for content’s sake. It just felt like the game wanted you to have a lot available for its own sake. Does a town really need both a lumber mill and a carpenter’s cabin that both exist to produce planks of wood?

But I wonder how much of this is related to the directionless feeling of the game, overall. As you expand on the world map, you don’t really feel as if you’re doing it for any purpose except, again, simply to do it. This is something I believe the developers have noted they want to work on, and I think they are currently trying to add an overarching goal to the world map. That would at least give you something to work toward that makes it feel as if all the upgrades are for more than their own sake, or for the sake of simply completing more colonies. This game isn’t like They Are Billions, so playing the individual colony maps doesn’t have the thrill of desperately trying to beat off incoming threats. I also wonder sometimes if I am simply playing the game wrong. I’ve defeated multiple maps but often feel as if doing so requires essentially repeating the same processes. I don’t feel like it should take a dozen hours and three world resets to start feeling as if more intriguing environments or threats were coming. Still, this is a promising game so far and I don’t regret my purchase at all. I look forward to seeing how the overarching goals impact the game and how I feel about the upgrade system. It’s a charming city builder with a unique setting and I look forward to more in the future.

Movie Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie

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The Mario Bros. power up in this family friendly film.

It’s okay to have fun.

It’s strange that I had to keep reminding myself about this throughout the entirety of the Super Mario Bros. Movie. For the last month, the online discourse surrounding this film has been obnoxious. “It’s not as emotionally impactful as a Pixar film!” “There are no deeper lessons learned from the movie!” As if the lack of those things inherently makes a film bad. Neither does “It’s just a kids movie!” make for a good defense of a film.

That’s the thing, though. The Mario movie isn’t a bad film. In fact, it’s a pretty good one if you’re looking to just have fun. It’s bright, it’s silly, it’s humorous, and it’s a visual treat. I truly disliked having to argue with the discourse, in my own head, as I watched the film. That’s my own fault though, of course.

The easiest thing to address about the film is the visuals. How can you not? The Mario movie is so visually bright that almost every scene in the film explodes off the screen. Yet once again, the movie somehow came under criticism from the online mobs. At some point in the last few years, people started expecting every individual strand of a character’s hair to be rendered. That level of attention to detail in Pixar films has caused their films to explode in costs, for negligible gains. Does anybody really care that Mario’s mustache isn’t life like? Is anybody really asking for that? The film has a solidly cartoonish look with exaggerated visuals that are perfect for the material.

Donkey Kong in the Super Mario Bros. movie.
The visuals don’t even look bad.

Musically, the soundtrack borrows from the games for much of the musical cues while also integrating pop hits over different scenes. The original score is fantastic, and the fact that we got a rendition of the beloved DK Rap is a delightful surprise. There is only one scene that comes to mind where the use of a pop track really didn’t fit; I’m thinking specifically of when Take On Me was played over a scene of Mario and Peach driving through the streets on a golf cart. I’m not sure who chose that specific song for that specific scene, but it was the one instance of a track feeling jarring and not well integrated into the film.

But let’s be honest. Everyone coming to the movie is waiting to hear the incredibly memeable earworm known as Peaches.

If you don’t want to spoil the surprise, then skip the video, but parents around the world are going to be clawing at their ears as their children sing Peaches for the 50th time. But, to be honest, it was one of the highlights of the film. Someone apparently just told Jack Black to make a song and scream it out, and that man went 200% into creating a song that will live in infamy. I’ll say that during my showing, the crowd broke out in applause. And, ashamed as I am to say it, I’ll find myself walking around singing “peachespeachespeachespeachespeaches.”

The Mario Bros. in the Super Mario Movie.
Mario and Luigi have a real winner in their first film in 20 years.

I thought the voice acting throughout was great. The only character that seemed miscast was Cranky Kong, voiced by Fred Armisen. However, the rest of the cast was solid. Princess Peach, voices by Anya-Taylor Joy, takes up as much screen time as Mario himself and maybe more than Luigi. Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, and Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day, make up the heart of the film. The central theme of the film is the importance of their brotherhood. Throughout, we see Mario acting very protective of his less courages, and less capable, younger brother. That theme is present from the very first moments of the movie, and there’s a genuine sweetness in their love for each other.

But the plot as a whole is as complex as an plot in any Mario game. The Mushroom Kingdom is threatened by Bowser, who wants to marry Princess Peach, and Mario and Luigi arrive to save the day. As is the trend in modern films, Princess Peach couldn’t be relegated to a damsel in distress. Actually, even in the most recent Mario game, Princess Peach seemed to spurn both Mario and Bowser’s romantic advances to go on her own journey at the game’s conclusion. There’s nothing ground breaking or ultra feminist in Peach’s portrayal, but it was nice to see that she was written as a capable ruler of her kingdom. Rather than be relegated to the background, Peach takes a central role. She’s protective of the Toadstools who live in the kingdom and sincerely cares about the well being of the people around her. Mario is still positioned as someone uniquely capable of helping, since he never accepts defeat and is willing to keep getting back up no matter how many times he’s knocked down. The two play off each other very well as they both do their part in saving the kingdom from Bowser. That relationship is accented by memorable characters throughout the film, from the apes of Kong Kingdom to the imprisoned, humorously nihilistic Luma.

In fact, all the relationships are portrayed fairly well.

At the end of the day, the Super Mario Bros. Movie is one of the most profitable films ever, having taken in nearly $1.5 billion in revenue. Does it deserve that number? That’s subjective and depends on your tastes. Just, take the Mario movie on its own terms. If you’re looking for a tear jerker in the spirit of Up or Wall-E, you won’t find that here. You won’t have the deeply interwoven message of coming to terms with your own adulthood like was found in Inside Out. But the film is a lot of fun, and sometimes, that’s all you need.

Game Review: Dredge

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Go for a quiet fishing trip. Meet Cthulhu.

One of my favorite games ever created is Sunless Sea. Set in the world of Fallen London, the game Sunless Sea involved you sailing from one port to another in a great underground ocean located in a cave called The Neath. The gameplay was largely you sailing around and exploring. Occasionally, you got into combat with underwater beasts, some of unfathomable dimensions, but the game was largely focused on finding exotic new locales and going through the story beats. It was one of the best written games I ever played.

It also created a gaming niche I didn’t even realize I needed to have filled – Lovecraftian inspired sailing. There just aren’t a lot of games where the focus is on being a sailor and encountering bizarre forces inspired by Lovecraft’s canon. In fact, the only other game I played that remotely scratched that itch was Sunless Skies, the space-based sequel in which you piloted a train rather than a boat.

The Avid Horizon of Sunless Sea.
Your gameplay will look mostly like this, just you overseeing your boat as you sail around the map.

So, when I heard about Dredge, I was fascinated. Here was a game in which you were going to be sailing around the map and mostly just fishing. You would get into some interesting side quests with quirky characters. And, along the way, you would also run afoul of the Cthulhu inspired monstrosities that filled the world. The developers of Dredge described Sunless Sea as a “spooky boat” game. That same title can be applied to Dredge.

Because from the moment that you load up the game, it’s made very clear that something is amiss in the islands in which you will be doing your fishing. People warn you not to be out too late at night. It’s good advice – just as in Sunless Sea, the game Dredge has a panic meter that rises as you sail the unknown. Your panic increases the later it gets, and can be made higher by random encounters on your map, such as piloting through red clouds of mist or getting attacked by sea beasts. The more your panic rises, the more you are more likely to encounter enemies that are single mindedly set on destroying you. Of course, you have no way to fight back. You’re just a fisherman, after all.

Dredge promotional art.
Spooky boat simulator.

So, fishing is actually going to be the core of the gameplay loop. Some parts of the map are more dangerous than others, but you need to explore them to complete quests. You can upgrade your boat to take more damage and even acquire abilities that will make it easier to avoid taking hits. But upgrading a boat takes money, and you can only make money by going fishing. And there’s a lot of fishing you can do. While you only start with a simple fishing line, you can upgrade the line to fish in ever more exotic environments. You also get access to crab pots and trawling nets that can add even more fish to your hauls, meaning more money for upgrades.

But while the fishing is the core gameplay loop, it wouldn’t mean much without an interesting world to fish in. Dredge provides you with an island chain that contains five main sections, each unique in their own way. While the peaceful islands of The Marrows provide you with a hospitable start from which to fish, the volcanic and ruin strewn islands of The Devil’s Spine are much more difficult to navigate and survive in.

Island resort in Dredge.
Just one of the many locales you can visit as you sail the islands.

What really moves the story forward, though, are the quests. There is one central, overarching questline that takes you through the entirety of the islands. Yet every island chain has its own unique questline to work through. Each questline also reveals a little more about the threats the world is facing and the consequences there might be if the Cthulhu like being beneath the islands were to ever wake up. Messages in bottles reveal bits of story as well and help the player understand the motivations of the sea captain they are playing as. In fact, there’s a lot of story packed away in those messages-in-bottles and they really shouldn’t be missed.

If I were to criticize Dredge in an real significant way, it would be to say that the game never went far enough with exploring its own world. Again, the best comparison is Sunless Sea. In Sunless Sea, multi part quests reaped what were sometimes terrifying revelations. Hours would go into completing those quest chains and personal relationships between characters fleshed out. Even exploration was more in-depth when you pulled into port. As a great example, in Sunless Sea, you have to stock up on items to explore a cathedral at one juncture in the game. It’s a long series of you basically reading descriptions of the cathedral and then making decisions, such as whether to use the stairs or try and use ropes to climb upward. Each decision was a gamble and based on your stats, and at each stage in your ascent, you would read sometimes chilling descriptions of what happened there. Dredge has a lighthouse you have to explore at one stage and while you do need a specific item to get inside, there is no sense of exploration. You simply go upstairs and come back down.

A character in Dredge.
These characters need even more in-depth storytelling – but they are still great as is.

So, my one wish would be that Dredge tackle its land based explorations more thoughtfully. It could borrow from the quest structure of Sunless Sea and I think people would be very happy with the outcome. With that said, though, Dredge remains a fantastic game and one of the few examples of a spooky boat simulator that exists. It’s also unexpectedly relaxing to simply go out fishing – even if that relaxation turns to terror once the night descends.

TV Review: Picard, Season 3

/ Jason Luthor / Leave a comment

Going out boldly.

If you haven’t kept up with the world of the Paramount+ show Picard, I can’t blame you. The first season of the show started with lots of promise. At its beginning, it seemed to be an insightful review of Data’s legacy and the nature of humanity. You know, the typical topics that the Star Trek franchise has historically been about. It quickly became an action stuffed, poorly paced show that ended with a Galaxy threatening enemy the audience had previously never been introduced to. So, while seeing some old, familiar characters was nice, the overall tone of the show was incredibly uneven. Still, it was decent enough to have hopes for Season 2.

And boy, did Season 2 seem to have a good sales line. It promised to bring back Q, the omniscient, omnipotent being who had repeatedly locked horns with Jean-Luc Picard during his time as captain of the Enterprise. The episodes featuring Q had been some of the best with regard to showing us how insignificant, yet paradoxically important, humans were in the scope of the Galaxy. It’s too bad that Season 2 of Picard barely featured Q at all and instead of taking us to the stars, stuck us in modern day Los Angeles. Worse, the overall lesson, that Picard needed to learn to love, was poorly handled throughout the season. Somehow, Season 2 was far worse than Season 1.

The Picard series.
An uneven series with an incredible finale.

So it took me a while before I was willing to watch Picard Season 3. But, I couldn’t ignore the whispers I was hearing from all corners of the internet. “It’s actually good!” I kept hearing that it was a major shift, but after all of my disappointment, it took time before I was willing to revisit the show.

Wow. Am I glad I did.

Picard’s Q.
Did you know after Star Trek that he put on operas?

I want to preface this by saying there were multiple episodes of Picard where I outright cried. There were multiple episodes of Picard when I cheered. This is not the slow paced, cerebral show that Star Trek: The Next Generation was. So, if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be disappointed.

So what is it that makes Season 3 so good? It’s the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Season 3 brings back everyone you loved from TNG. Picard, is of course, at the center of the show. But right next to him is River in the command chair. Deanna is here to feature her empathic powers once again. Geordi returns to flaunt his engineering brilliance. Word is back at tactical – and a badass. Data, inexplicably, makes a welcome return. And nobody is more central to the story than Beverly Crusher, whose storyline is intimately tied up with Picard’s.

There was a time this was the only relationship I shipped.

To my frustration, it feels as if the show runners realized many of the new characters introduced in Season 1 didn’t work and so, through Season 2, they just got rid of all of them. By Picard Season 3, only one new character really remains. Raffi. With that said, her return is welcome, as she was one of the only characters with any real character. With that said, she’s also joined by Voyager and Picard alum, Seven of Nine, who has consistently been an incredible character in the Star Trek franchise.

And somehow, Picard Season 3 does something it hasn’t been able to do for two previous season and introduces even more characters that you want to see more of. To even discuss some of them would be to give away spoilers, but one I can talk about is Captain Liam Shaw. A captain that Picard is forced by circumstances, he’s everything that Picard is not. He’s so by the books you wonder how he became captain. He seems to exhibit very little in the way of bravery or willingness to sacrifice himself from others. Yet, he makes such an impact that by the end of the show, he was one of my favorite additions to the Star Trek series in recent years.

Liam SHaw.

So, new, memorable characters? Check. Old beloved friends? Check. But there’s also the plot, which is actually interesting. For half the season you’re left wondering how this grand conspiracy could be unfolding around Picard and leaving the Federation so helpless in the face of its adversary. Again, I can’t say much without spoiling the show, but there are multiple times you’re left guessing and when the reveals come, you’re left wondering if Picard and crew really can save the day. The enemies are worth waiting around for.

But even when the show loses its footing a bit or when the pacing starts to drag a little, you’re always caught wanting more because of that one thing – Picard and craw. To see the full crew back together after decades, to see them working together and with a new generation of Star Fleet to save the Federation, it really is touching. So many times, just seeing the small interactions between River and Deanna or between Data and Geordi made me tear up. This crew, this cast, loved each other, and it shows in every scene. Actors Jonathan Frakes (Riker) and Michael Dorn (Worf) seem to be having particular fun in every scene the share together.

Worf and Riker in Picard.
These two are having a hell of a time.

When the show’s finally done, you’re left applauding for your old heroes having returned, but also left wanting a new Star Trek show featuring the new generation of Star Fleet that’s been assembled. It’s really quite the feat that Picard pulls together old and new to not only celebrate the past but carve a way to the future. Along the way, it touches on the importance of friends, the nobility of the individual, and the importance of always working together toward a better future. It’s a fantastic season of television, and I’m glad that I finally watched it. If it’s not clear, then I highly recommend watching Picard Season 3.

VALOR

/ Jason Luthor / Leave a comment

The following is an excerpt from my new fantasy series, VALOR. It has recently been published as a part of the Bardsy Spring 2023 Anthology. It is estimated to be completed by Fall 2023.

Oh, watch her, indomitable Valeria!

She who knows no home but the battle field

Whose heart beats only to the drums of war

And who knows no love but that of combat

See her bear the symbol of Solaris, burning with the light of justice

Watch the flow of her blade, faster than Valor’s eyes can follow

See her emerge unscathed, with trace of Prasax’s judgement

Watch the magnificence of her golden hair, a sign of holy blessing

If there is only one true god, Valor

Then surely she is his chosen goddess

His messenger to spread his light

The goddess of the battlefield, Valeria

Valeria’s hand swiped down her cheek, her finger cleaning the blood that soaked her skin. She withdrew her hand after a moment and looked at her gauntlet, its leather underside soaked so deeply that she realized she was only spreading more blood across her face. She could only shake her head as she slid her lengthy blade back into its sheath, which hung opposite the buckler at her hip. Valeria struggled to breathe from beneath her breastplate for a moment, but she soon regained her strength. Her feet carried her across the rows of bodies strewn before her, her golden armored frame passing slowly across the battlefield. As she walked, the rich, red cloak hanging from her neck blossomed outward, carried by the wind and unfolding to fly the golden sigil of Solaris. 

As she walked, a few men looked to her, their eyes finding the sigil that flew at her back and their heads quickly bowing in grateful prayers. She glanced at them through the visor of her helmet, its golden sheen catching the light and scattering it along the ground. Valeria distanced herself from their unwarranted worship while herself giving thanks, though to no god in particular, that her mouth and cheeks were unguarded. Her helmet at least allowed her to feel the cool air and crisp breeze that whistled softly through the barren trees surrounding the clearing. For a moment, her mind turned to the Fall seasons of her childhood, as blurry as those times so often were. Her memories of those times were weak yet accompanied by strong emotions. As strands of her red hair fell beneath her visor and touched her lips, she was almost able to catch a memory of herself running through the forest as a young girl. 

That memory was interrupted by a rough cough, and she turned to find Left-Eye, a member of her Patchwork Infantry, following a few steps behind her. “You must’ve done half of this. You know, it’s strange, all this time I’ve served under you and I’ve never once seen your crimson blade.”

Her fingers rested lightly upon the hilt of her sword, and she felt her pulse quicken while her chest rose at the memory of the battle. “It was . . . Glorious.”

“You like killing that much.”

“The call of vengeance . . . the bloodlust . . . is difficult to master. My true joy lies in the challenge of the fight. I was raised for battle.”

“Adopted by the Knights of Valor, right?”

“Yes. I have no memory of my parents, of their love. My earliest memories as a young woman, in training, when I’d already surpassed my masters.” She stopped a moment as her eyes went to her blade. “All except one. And he was banished from Aelia.”

“Cast out of the capital? Shame. What for?”

“For the same reason we fight these people here in the east. Heresy.” Her gaze shifted downward as she dropped to a knee. “Look here.” Valeria’s gloved fingers opened the eyelids of one of the men. As his pupils became visible, a light like the sun shone through them. Her fingers traced the man’s temples and the scorch marks she found. The skin was reddish and looked toughened compared to the rest of his fair complexion. “The last light still burns in him.”

“I believe I see it well enough from here,” he said as he stepped back.

“You fear it?”

Left-Eye shrugged. “They do say their madness can move between people like a sickness.” 

“I have never seen it. What I know is that this man,” she said, her hands drifting down his face and to his neck, “Bears the same symbol that we’ve seen countless times during our march into the east.” Her fingers reached beneath the man’s collar and pulled out a simple silver chain, to which was attached an amulet. It was little more than a simple ring of fake gold to which eight spikes, representing the sun’s rays, were affixed. “The further we march, the more the barbarians carry these symbols. It’s as if the cult of the sun grows wild beyond the borders of the Aelian Empire. It is no wonder the emperor has called for their deaths for the crime of heresy. It is either execution or repentance.” 

“Considering the madness that grabs them, I’ve wondered why they claim to worship the sun. It’s a false sun, is what it is.”

Her eyes shifted to him. “Then you are a true believer in Solaris and Valor.”

“Valor is the true sun, and the Emperor Solaris is his instrument,” he replied with a bow of his head. “And, if you’ll pardon me for saying, then the story in the capital’s that you’re Valor’s blade. The goddess of the battlefield, they say.”

“If only the politicians loved the truth of me as much as the lies they spread. They speak of me as Valor’s golden-haired warrior apostle. Yet my life has not granted me the luxury of faith. Whomever my parents were, they were stolen from me by war. My sole reason for being is to protect others from the same fate. That is why my only faith is in my blade. The empire gave me nothing else to believe in.” She sighed as she returned to her feet. “Let us leave. Commander Gideon has already taken troops north, to see if there are other Scorched. We shall investigate elsewhere.” 

Left-Eye grunted before struggling to follow her across the uneven ground, but he managed it in silence. That silence lasted only briefly before he finally blurted, “Why’s it seem that old Gideon’s always such a donkey? The man’s got a stick so far up his backside I’m surprised he can bend over to fix his greaves.”

“Mind yourself. He remains your commanding officer.”

“I respect the man. I’d obey every order and follow him into any battle. Tell me I’m wrong, though.”

 “Commander Gideon . . . is a disciplined man. That is why he is leader of the knights when I am gone. I would be lying if I said I did not appreciate my conversations with him. There are certain things he understands. The weight of duty, and the burden of command.”

Left-Eye sniffed at the air. “Makes me feel about as good as all hell hearing that. I’m lying, if that isn’t clear.”

“You and I enjoy a different kind of conversation,” she said as she turned to him. “Humorous conversation.”

“Beg your pardon, m’lady, but you never laugh.” It was true, but she granted him a smile before she resumed her walk. Left-Eye stood there a moment, his jaw slack as he stammered. “You . . . you smiled. You actually smiled.”

“You know I am human.”

“Well, true, it’s just . . . I’m just . . . Well, never you mind. I’ll simply appreciate the moment.”

“Good,” she said as the woods gave way to a clearing. “Because we’re here.” Before them, rickety shacks made from wooden planks and straw thatching huddled together in a wide, loose circle. Valeria lingered at the fringes and stared at the horrid beauty of the yellow blades of light streaking upward from the ground and the rooftops of the buildings. These were not like flames, but slivers of sunlight, except that these rays came from no sun.

“Whole place has been Sun Scorched, it has,” Left-Eye mumbled as he stared with her. 

“That is not a question,” she agreed as her gaze sifted through the bodies. The corpses in a nearby doorway also bled light, yet she focused on the wounds in their backs. “These people did not die from Sun Scorching, though. These are stab wounds. It was a weapon like any other that killed them. They were killed by those maddened by the false sun, yet cold steel brought their deaths.”

“What do you reckon we should do?”

Valeria ignored him as her eyes found a body lying heaped within the village center. It was a young boy bearing a gaping wound in his chest. His mouth was bloody and bruised, and his eyes had rolled back to stare, with death’s gaze, to the sky. “The madness,” she whispered as she resumed her steps, her fingers clenching tightly as she stood over the body. “They struck him across his face, sending him backward. Then they finished their bloody work with a sword through his chest. What would drive them to this?”

She noticed Left-Eye reaching his hand outward, his lips parting to answer before he quickly withdrew. Valeria appreciated his restraint as she dropped to her knees, her hands reaching out and bringing the boy’s body into her arms. “Oh. Dear child. Sweet, sweet child,” she whispered as she held his head to her chest. She breathed deeply as she said, “Go find Commander Gideon. Tell him what we have found. Though, be slow. I beg you. Allow me time to mourn.”

“Oh. Oh, right. Of course, m’lady,” he said as he backed away. When he was far enough, her hand went to her helmet. In a moment, she removed it, the faux sunlight reflecting off its surface as she laid it on the ground. Her red hair flowed in the wind as she pressed her chin to the boy’s head, her hands clutching him tightly. As she kneeled there, she heaved outward in a single, despairing breath. Still, she could feel Left-Eye’s gaze still watching for any glimpse of her face that he could manage.

“Left-Eye. The commander.”

There was a moment of silence before he asked, hesitantly, “Are you sure that’s safe? I’m not meaning to doubt you, of course. I mean no offense, m’lady. Captain.”

“Please. Allow me time with these people, before our next battle. Bring Commander Gideon here.”

“Alright. I’ll be back. Not too quickly, as you like.”

“Thank you.” And with that, she gently rested her face once more upon the boy, the pair of them silently embracing with the broken shards of light. Soon, all she could hear was the sound of the wind whispering from between the trees and the shattered doorways. Time stretched outward until she could no longer tell when Left-Eye had departed. She awaited his return along with the Knights of Valor, and heard the approaching footsteps that reached her ears. Dozens of feet trampled through the forest and roughly crushed twigs and leaves. With every passing moment, their steps grew louder, yet she did not move, even when they halted just inside the clearing. 

Valeria took a deep breath as she heard a single pair of footsteps approach, and with them, she listened as a sword started to exit its sheath. “My name is Valeria, daughter of the sun,” she warned him, which brought the steps to an abrupt stop. “I am the sword of light, and blade of justice. Today you are offered mercy in the name of Valor and his chosen voice, the Emperor Solaris. Repent of your transgressions, and mercy will be shown you this day. Commit yourselves to Valor, and you will be forgiven of your sins. There will be a place for you in the sunlight.”

A long moment passed before she again heard the sword being drawn, the sound of its metal echoed by dozens of other blades. Valeria nodded as she returned the boy to the soil. “I see,” she almost whispered, though her voice resonated within her chest. She reached for her helmet, which she gently laid back over her face until her visor again guarded her vision. “Then you have chosen death.” She brought a knee upward, elevating herself while, in a single motion, drawing her blade from its sheath. The wind howled through the surrounding forest, her hair like fire as it carried in the air, her regal cloak forming a crimson torrent behind her. “I tell you once more. I am Valeria, daughter of the sun. Now, you shall meet my blade,” she said as she pivoted on her heel, her body turning fully to face her attackers. “And all who meet my blade find death.”

Valeria vanished as her last words left her lips. In that same instant, she saw her attackers. They were men and women, clothed in leather armor, some carrying swords and shields while others held tightly to axes. Their mouths opened in identical howls, like the call of wolves during the hunt. It was their eyes, though, that marked them as Sun Scorched. Their pupils burned with a yellow light that mirrored the glowing rays cutting through their skin. Together, they raised their weapons and charged to meet her.

Valeria was past the first line of them in an instant, and she heard as a half dozen of their numbers pitched forward, blood spraying into the air as they collapsed into the ground. She saw the streams of blood sliding down the edge of her sword as she moved skyward, leaping over her nearest opponent. Her arm moved at speeds that defied anticipation, her blade visible for mere seconds as she passed above her enemies, their heads falling into the grass as their bodies toppled like dead trees. Valeria could see her opponents shifting as they closed in from all sides. 

Yet they suddenly stopped, holding at a distance as they surrounded her. Within that same instant, she felt the ground at her feet shake as the soil burst apart with beams of light. The blades burned only slightly at first, then suddenly surged. Heat filled the air, and Valeria raised her shield at the very moment that a column of light erupted around her. The earth groaned as she was blinded, the light growing until she was consumed entirely. Heat seared her armor and burned at her skin before the entire world vanished before her. 

It took long moments before the light finally faded. And as it faded, Valeria still stood, shield upraised. In front of it, a circular rune spun, projected from the shield itself. Around her, protective energy braced her against the assault she had just endured. As the protective rune vanished, her shielded arm dropped to her side, her chest rising and falling as she felt the maddening frenzy of vengeance possessing her. “It is magic you choose, then,” she said through grit teeth. “I choose another way.” With that, she pivoted on her heel, her blade flashing outward as a dozen of her attackers had their chests sliced open. And then she was plunging into their midst, watching as they, with slashed throats and cut limbs, collapsed to the ground.

Which was the moment she grunted, her body suddenly twisting sideways as she was spun out of control. Pain burned from her side as she regained her footing, just in time to leap away from an arrow that pierced the air behind her. Simultaneously, she grabbed at the projectile lodged in her side, yanking it outward and feeling the blood gush from her wound. Her steps slowed as she braced against the pain, but as her eyes locked with those of her last, remaining foe, she felt the barely shackled bloodlust boiling ever hotter in her chest. The creature towered over her, more than twice her size and rippling with muscle. It was grotesquely proportioned as if twisted and broken by sun poisoning. Its body leaked with golden rays that split its skin, and the sun surged from its eyes as it rushed at her. She did not hesitate to meet its charge. 

In mere moments, they met at the center of the clearing. The creature was fast, far faster than its brethren. It twisted aside, narrowly avoiding her blade as it retaliated with its own crude, broad sword. She rolled beneath its strike and quickly leaped upward, planting her foot on its bent knee and leaping at its throat. Her blade cut along the beast’s chest, but before the tip of her sword could meet its neck, the creature grabbed her by the waist and sent her flying along the ground. Valeria rolled sloppily along the dirt for a moment before she forced her legs upward and pivoted into a somersault. Within a breath, she’d landed back on her feet, her chest pounding as she instantly returned to the fight. Her blade was held outward, its tip trailing the ground as this time she spiraled into the air, the creature’s strike sailing underneath her. 

She pivoted toward it and again rose, her shield bashing into its elbow. Her ears pounded at the sound of its bone breaking, the beast screaming in sudden pain as it sent a backward blow aimed squarely at her face. Valeria leaned away as its arm sailed mere inches from her nose, then launched forward with a turn of her blade. This time, she found her mark, and the creature bellowed as her sword sliced cleanly into its stomach. In a mere instant, she was sailing past the beast, her sword again free as she turned, watching as the monster fell to its knees. And there, with its bloodied hands suddenly grasping at its gaping wound, Valeria grabbed at its hair.

“Blood cries out for blood,” she proclaimed simply as her blade flashed from her hand. Flesh, muscle, and bone sliced apart in an instant, and as she tore away from the beast, its head came with her, clutched tightly in her grip. And there she stood as the creature fell, bathing in the blood that painted her golden armor and ran down her visor. That blood continued to pool into the earth as she stood for a moment before, finally, turning back to the town. Her eyes found the dead boy’s body, still lying motionless in the soil. Yet, trophy in hand, she bowed her head slightly, respectfully, toward the child. “Peace find you, in whatever life that may come, and know that I will bring an end to the False Sun Heresy.”