No Lives Left

  Sequelitis is the word that comes to mind when playing Axiom Verge 2. I'm not 100% sure of the origin. But I learned about it from a YouTube series by EgoRaptor (Arin Hanson). It's defined as the sequel of an original price of media not delivering on the same merits as the original. The idea being that the original had set bar that the sequel had to surmount. A sequel will always be judged by the piece of media that came before. And sometimes a sequel ends up failing to find critical and cult success if it is anything but better and bigger than the original in every aspect. Super Smash Brothers Brawl  suffered from sequelitis because of how much Sakurai (the creator of the beloved series) wanted to ensure his game didn't a have such a high skill ceiling as its predecessor. He wanted more people enjoy the Smash  series and wanted to give new fans (that came from the huge influx of Wii owners) an entry point. So he added random tripping and removed any expert skills that ...

  There seemed to be a melancholic air to the plaza where the South Gate Regal Cinemas theater stood. Barely any cars littered the many parking lots. It was a hot. A forgotten "Max Height" sign was half fallen as we made our way into the parking structure. A solemn, unspoken metaphor as if to say that the times have not changed; social entertainment is not something that this parking lot has condoned. It wanted to block us out. The courtyard where the giant theater was condescending, It stood  as if to ask my friends and I if we should really be here. If  watching movies in the midst of the pandemic was really a good idea. But after the horrible affair of trying to watch Wonder Woman 1984 over a Zoom call and after all of us getting fully vaccinated, we decided to go against what the world was telling us. We decided to head into the theater and watch The Suicide Squad (2021). It's been over eight months  since Wonder Woman 1984   has arrived and the DCEU ha...