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#214 - Antz (Written Review by McConnaughay)

3/8/2019

Antz is an animated film in DreamWorks Pictures’ early catalog of films but have actively ignored all opportunities to watch. I was aware of the star-studded cast comprised of names like Christopher Walkin, Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Lopez, Sharon Stone, and, of course, our morally ambiguous lead-voice Woody Allen. Dreamworks’ first animated film was directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson. The film is notorious in some respects because its similarities with Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, and these similarities amounted to a public feud between Dreamworks and Disney as a result. Considering this film came out in 1998, I was oblivious to most of the actual conflict, because I was a toddler. However, even as a child, it was easy to find the parallels between each film. I loved A Bug’s Life as a kid, but I avoided Antz like the plague, a prejudice that has kept me from watching the film until now.

Although both films received very positive critical reception, A Bug’s Life hit far higher numbers at the worldwide box-office, whereas, Antz was, at best, a modest box-office success, depending on where the actual production budget lands, with estimates as low as forty-million and as high as one-hundred million, the discrepancy is very large. Looking back, now that I can say I’ve given it a chance, had I been mistreating Antz all these years? Here are my thoughts …

#83 - Crackdown 3 (Written Review by McConnaughay)

3/6/2019

I wasn’t very excited when I first heard the announcement of Crackdown 3, which was first announced back in 2014. I had completed the first Crackdown and found it satiable enough entertainment. I even purchased and played Crackdown 2, which I can’t honestly remember a single thing about. I’ve heard a lot of gamers refer to Crackdown as a product of its generation, which I disagree with, because I think the central core of what Crackdown is dated much further back than that. What I mean is, even when the first video-game arrived on the Xbox 360, Crackdown already felt very simple and like a callback to the mindless running around that Grand Theft Auto had already evolved from before it even left the PlayStation 2. When Crackdown 3 was announced in 2014, I didn’t care very much, and with its release, about half a decade later, I still can’t say I was very enthusiastic about it. Regardless, with Crackdown 3 arriving on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service on-launch, I decided to dabble into it, ignoring the barrage of negative reviews and criticisms, and really, only hoping for an enjoyable couple of hours before it was deleted from my Library and forgotten. Does Crackdown 3 fail at meeting even the minimum of expectations, or is it dead on arrival? Here are my thoughts…

#213 - How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Written Review by McConnaughay)

3/5/2019

The How to Train Your Dragon series has been a beacon of light for Dreamworks Animation and has become one of my all-time favorite animated series’. In the early 2000s, Dreamworks Animation started the millennium my introducing us to Shrek, an enjoyable and creative animation that showed what Dreamworks was capable of with the right idea. I believe the 2004 sequel even improved on its predecessor, both in-terms of quality and definitely in-terms of box-office reception, grossing nearly a billion dollars. Unfortunately, the decade thereafter wasn’t as kind to the Shrek franchise, dulling the shine from Dreamworks’ most consistent money-maker. Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After damaged the brand and the ogre has seemed reclused to his swamp since then, which might be for the best. Fortunately, the How to Train Your Dragon series has really taken the torch from Shrek in this decade, showing Dreamsworks operating at all cylinders. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World marks the third and (allegedly) final installment in the near decade old series, and while I had no doubt that I would enjoy it on some level, I was a little leery on whether it would be able to provide a send-off as strong as its predecessors. Here are my thoughts …

#212 - The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (written Review by McConnaughay)

2/28/2019

I can remember when I saw The Lego Movie in theaters. I was a lot less selective when it came to the films I sat through, (a double-movie night with Fifty Shades of Grey and SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water? Sign me up!) and even though I’ve never liked the Lego video-games or other times the Lego brand has pursued things other than … Legos, I went ahead and watched the film. As fate would have it, The Lego Movie was a very good film, in-fact, according to the review I wrote nearly half a decade ago about it, The Lego Movie was a great film. Although I had expected a suitably satiable fare existing solely to sell plastic-blocks to children, I was pleasantly warmed by a film with creativity, a sense of humor, and heartful sentiment. Bolstering a conservative production budget of around sixty-million dollars, which is very small for an animated film, for a comparison, that same month, Dreamworks released Mr. Peabody & Sherman with well more than double the production budget, The Lego Movie launched Warner Bros. Animation’s first major franchise.
A few years later, The Lego Batman Movie arrived, and once more I had my reservations only to be surprised by a very funny, entertaining film. The Lego Batman Movie did serve as a bad omen in-terms of the series’ box-office prospects, however. The Lego Movie made nearly half a billion at the box-office, whereas The Lego Batman Movie struggled to reach three-hundred million. Thankfully, Warner Bros. stayed conservative with the budget, which kept Lego Batman as financially successful, but they had to have second-thoughts about that Lego Ninjago film they greenlit. Admittedly, I haven’t seen The Lego Ninjago Movie, which makes sense, considering no one else has seen it either. The Lego Ninjago Movie made less than half of what The Lego Batman film did, failing to break-even, amounting to the first box-office misfire in the series. Through overexposure and the law of diminishing returns, it should come as no surprise the sequel to the film that start the series in the first place would be met with apathy and diluted anticipation. Having to fight tooth-and-nail to reach one-hundred million at the domestic box-office, a paltry total compared to its predecessors near three-hundred million (when adjusted for inflation), the series has been an underdog in mainstream animation from the start. But does the film dwindle the goodwill of its predecessor or depend to heavily on it, or was the film unfortunately overlooked? Here are my thoughts …

The MishMash Patreon Has Arrived!

2/26/2019

Rabies and germs, the Mishmash Patreon has officially arrived! Although we still have a lot of kinks to sort through, all about ensuring the project acts as it's intended (a way to be more pro-active and direct with our writing). A dream I always had as a kid was being able to send-out newspaper copies of whatever story I was working on, etc. Unfortunately, as an adult, I know that there isn't really a demand for that. Still, through this Patreon, I can at least attain something close to that. For the month of March, we're keeping it simple, with my first full-length novel Blind Salvation and my first installment of The Adventures of Vulpecula, with Scott Moore throwing in his first installment of The Life and Crimes of Detective Barker for good measure. Of course, Vulpecula and Detective Barker's stories overlap significantly, creating The Canes Files (my fourth novel, and Scott's first).
Something I wanted to do, as well, is I wanted to make more of an effort to jot down and share more on the development for some of projects (for prosperity). This is something I hope to roll out as soon as I can (I also want to return to the Out of Frame Podcast in a more consistent manner).
I hope you'll consider supporting our Patreon. Right now, for $1, you'll receive access to the first installment of Barker and Vulpecula, and for $3.99, you'll receive access to those, as well as Blind Salvation. Over time, we hope to build a considerable collection of content.

Cheers,

McConnaughay

#82 - Life is Strange: before the Storm (Written Review by McConnaughay)

2/20/2019

Although Life is Strange might have been rough-around-the-edges, I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to unearthing whatever secrets Dontnod Entertainment has underway for Life is Strange 2. Like when Warner Bros. Montreal developed Batman: Arkham Origins, borrowing the reins from Rocksteady while they worked on Batman: Arkham Knight, Life is Strange: Before the Storm feels a lot as though it’s meant as a holdover for Life is Strange 2. Similar to Arkham Origins, likewise, Life is Strange: Before the Storm also acts as a prequel to our series’ established canon, focusing on Chloe Price before Max Caulfield came back to Seattle. Deck Nine carries the mantle now, acting as developer, in this three-episode graphic-adventure, and very much captures the feel of the series established by Dontnod. Continuing my comparison, one of the biggest criticisms about Arkham Origins was its inability to etch out its own identity, feeling that it arguably couldn’t stand-out on its own. And so, the question we’re left with is: does Life is Strange: Before the Storm feel like a hold-over or does it earn its keep? Here are my thoughts …

#81 - Life is Strange (Written Review by McConnaughay)

2/13/2019

Dontnod Entertainment first hit the scene with an action-adventure video-game called Remember Me. Published by Sega after spending about five-years in-development, the video-game received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, and was, at least, a modest success, becoming a Platinum title with a million-copies sold. Nevertheless, perhaps because of the extensive development and various setbacks, Dontnod Entertainment filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. In-retrospect, having played through and completed Remember Me, I regarded it as an enjoyable video-game, and one I thought underlined Dontnod as having potential as a game-developer, but the most unfortunate fact rests in how forgettable Remember Me proved in the long-run. Only a couple years after, however, Dontnod Entertainment appears to have really turned a corner for themselves. With more than three million copies sold by mid-2017 alone, it seems a smaller, less showy, more personal experience resonated far better with gamers. Shedding the action-adventure approach in-favor of a cinematic graphic-adventure akin to Telltale or Quantum Dream, does Life is Strange bring new elements to the genre, or is it something better seen as a benchmark to better projects for Dontnod? Here are my thoughts…

#80 - Gears of War 4 (Written Review by McConnaughay)

2/6/2019

For me and many others, the Gears of War franchise was one of the most prolific in the seventh-generation of gaming consoles and the defining series in Microsoft's second console, the Xbox 360. Gears of War was one of the first video-games I ever played on the 360, and I don't think I've completed the campaign of any game more than Gears of War 2 (five times and having to fight the urge to start a sixth go-around). Through fun game-play mechanics and combat, blending elements from other third-person shooters and seamlessly developing a distinguished recipe, the Gears series also brought high-production cinematic and sound, amounting into a series I always knew it'd be difficult to bid adieu to – especially for Microsoft. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when the original trilogy was followed by Gears of War: Judgment, then, subsequently, Gears of War 4, and honestly, I wasn't disappointed either. Frankly put, I was in the same boat as Microsoft, even if I knew the series had completed from a narrative standpoint, my hunger for the series wasn't satiated. Does Gear of War 4 satisfy that hunger, or is it developed as a milking for one of Microsoft's largest cash-cows? Here are my thoughts..

#79 - Kingdom Hearts II (Written Review by McConnaughay)

2/2/2019

My review of Kingdom Hearts might not have been as glowing of a reception as “Hearts” enthusiasts might have yearned for, but I did, on some level, enjoy myself. If nothing else, something I always try to do no matter what I'm sharing my thoughts on, is I try to approach what I review with an open-mind, and, if for some reason I feel like I can't do that, I usually don't review it. This is why you won't find reviews of NBA Jam or Forza, or whatever else, because it is very unlikely I'll enjoy it and it's not really worthwhile for me to share my thoughts on something I don't really care about. I enjoyed Kingdom Hearts, but I recognized the issues it had. I recognized the repetitive game-play, the storyline and its superficial grandiose nature, and many of the levels seemed to strew together rehashed renditions of their film counterparts. Regardless, as a fan of Disney films, a fan of the aesthetic and more technical aspects, I was excited for Kingdom Hearts II, hoping it'd improve on the foundation set by its predecessor. Here are my thoughts …

#78 - Kingdom Hearts (Written Review by McConnaughay)

1/31/2019

I never really jumped on the Kingdom Hearts bandwagon like a lot of gamers did. I utter the phrase “bandwagon,” not in derogatory fashion. In-fact, had I known more about the series when its initial installment came out in 2002, I would've likely been on-board with the rest of them. Unfortunately, I was six-years old, and it was never a franchise that made its presence known in my household. The concept holds a definite appeal that can't be underestimated, after all. An action role-playing video-game developed and published by Square, Kingdom Hearts tries its hand at blending the settings and characters from Disney series' with those from their own Final Fantasy series, and even better than that, its attempt is done on a very grandiose and epic-scale. Whether or not it was a success is not something I can really decide, per si. The series was a financial success and has spawned several main-entry sequels, spin-offs, and remasters, which speaks volumes about how coveted it is amongst many gamers, it was clearly a success. But – is the series the high-stakes, in-depth, and high-quality franchise it often feels presented as? Here are my thoughts …

Scott's Newsletter

What is Mishmashers (dot) com?

Started in late-2017, Mishmashers.com is a website by brothers Scott Moore and McConnaughay as a way to share their opinion on an array of different topics, as well as shine a light on their written works. Both brothers are passionate about their work and have dedicated a significant amount of time and resources to their respected works.

The website also has blogs that document their strides and efforts at accomplishing said goals, and reviews over storytelling mediums like movies, books, and television (their reviews on video-games can be seen on the website CurrentlyLoading.com).

The Mishmash Podcast (and the occasional The Mc's and Mash Podcast) are shows hosted by McConnaughay and Scott Moore (and McConnaughay & Beccah Grace for The Mc's and Mash) that allow them to discuss whatever interests them at any given time.

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