“If you ask me, I’d say my favorite movies aren’t always a 10/10 or an A Plus movie; However, I know a perfect movie when I see one at least twice!” - Frank Javier
Frank’s Scoring system.
I score each category out of five possible points. Then, I add up the results and divide them by the number of categories. I currently use five categories. Cinematography, Sound & Music, Writing & Story Arc, Acting, and finally Personal Experience.
My review should reflect my personal opinion of a film and will be a biased perspective. I hope it offers an insight towards past, present, and future films and can act as a guide for your viewing experiences.
Scoring System
1. Cinematography: (5/5 Possible Points)
In this category, I look at where, how, and why a location was used for a scene; and, how that feels in the overall style of a movie. I ask and look at questions like, “Should they have used CGI? Was the CGI heavyhanded, overbearing, or overused? Could the camera work have been cleaned up? Are there unique angles that draw the viewer in or out of the film. Are there advanced film techniques that create emotion or wonderment? Lastly, I’m looking for consistency and clarity.
2. Sound/Music: (5/5 Possible Points) Are the sound effects clean and cohesive with the film style? Does the music add or take away from the scene and dialog? Does the music trigger an emotion and if so, is it necessary? I'm looking for audio consistency. Is the sound mixed well? Is it well timed? Is the music choice right for the scene or even the genre of a film?
3. Writing/Story Arc: (5/5 Possible Points)
Is the dialog believable? Does it take me out of the film or draw me in? Is the writing believable? I'm looking for unfulfilled plot holes, Is there a strong character development. How does the pacing of the story feel? What could have happened differently? Is there a better version of the story that could exist or already exists? Was this a successful telling of that story?
4. Acting: (5/5 Possible Points)
Is the overall delivery of emotions, dialog, and action executed in a way that keeps me involved with the overall film style, story, and character? Is the acting believable within the context of the story?
5. Personal Experience (5/5 Possible Points)
I ask myself if the film even needed to be experienced?
Although I’m not a fan of every genre, I can, at the very least, review a movie and give it a respectable score. For me, all movies start with a perfect score of 5/5 and begin to lose its score during my viewing experience.
I am more than willing to rewatch a movie or re-review a score. A score can change based on genre, a rewatch, or a special list. A special list might be something like, “Rating Animated Disney Movies” or “Rating War Films.” Ranking “Noire Films,” etc, etc. Sometimes my scores will fluctuate, after all, I am a human with emotions and experiences that will affect my opinion as life goes on.
I also understand that within a certain genre there are rules and exceptions and sometimes the clichés are part of the film. This can at times raise or lower a film’s score.
Some movies have great build up or hype. Thus, I always try to watch a movie twice, but never back to back. The point of this is to give a “First Impressions Score.” and then Give a follow-up, or “Final Score.”
I will give each film a
Chris Stuckman style score of: F to A+
IMDB Style Score: 1-10
Rotten Tomatoes Style Score: 1%-100%
and a Netflix style: Thumbs Up or Down
May the Live review begin!
For those of you curious of my current Ratings; visit: Frank’s IMDB List to see the movies I have rated in no particular order.
I gotta be honest, and I may be a lone wolf here but I Love how D2 was at launch. The issue for me is that it just stopped. After 2 weeks, the content was over, followed by three months of nothing. Every week there was an update to nothing. TWAB became a pool of information mocking the player. Teasing us and make us want more. Well, we do want more! And that's been the issue.
In D1 we had the flexibility to choose the game modes we wanted to play, we had the freedom to choose the missions, bounties strikes, and raids we wanted to do. We had weapon missions, we had planets that played differently on each one. We had content on content with their own story arches and missions.
In D2 this all changed. Forced to play in a playlist, all planets offer the same three enemies, the same things to do with the same rewards. They all have the same patrol missions, they all offer the same played out public events. We need more content and it needs to be varied. We need to know that EDZ is for cabal and farming a specific kind of loot, or that Mercury is a battle against the VEX.
There's more to Destiny than gameplay. The time it takes for Bungie to create an organized story has baffled me. There should have been, correction, there should be a plan to release new content every single week. I know that's ambitious AF, but that's where the expectations should be. A minimum turn around of three weeks would even suffice.
The point is we need content, we need a reason to play the game. A reason to participate in public events. We need a reason to collect all of these weapons. Outside of special events, The Crucible has offered the same rewards since Day 1. No new updates, no new loot. What's the point of playing this game? Is it to learn the story? Well then give us story missions! Is it to collects weapons? Well then give us reasons to use said weapons? Is it to be the highest power level, or have the best loadout? Well then give us a better reward system in the crucible.
The gameplay is great just the way it is. The real question is, What's the game about?
One Player said,
“It feels like they went backwards. D1 was a good game with plenty of content by the end of its run. Instead of building off that, they end up taking away most of the features players waited 3 years for. By the time they end up getting it together, and give the community what they want, that “casual player base” will be long gone.”
Another said,
“…If they lose the long term fans they built, they better figure out how to keep the casual players playing, or the community will fall off a cliff.”
There’s also contradictory opinions.
One Gamer said,
“The game gives out exotics and high level rewards too quickly compared to the first.”
Then followed up with,
…no, there isn’t enough high level rewards.
Another said, We
“We’re simply not getting enough,” then followed up that statement with, “…they released new content too soon. PC players were only able to play the base game for a month or so before they have to fork over another $20 on top of the $60 they already paid to continue playing the base game and the new content without parts of the game being locked out.”
Now, I’m not going to review what’s been happening or what Bungie is doing with Destiny 2. There’s plenty of articles and videos detailing the present situation. What I want to do, and find out is wtf do I, and many others do about all this. Do I quit, Do I stay? Are the reasons justified?
“Three years. We where here for three years!
This is the real complaint. This is why it hurts.
This is why Destiny 2 is failing.”
Article by: Frank Marks, December 10, 2017.
Bungie decided they were going to launch a new version of Destiny, but this time, they would change not only the entire game, but the entire demographic. Rendering the previous years pointless and bringing the new era down to having no special or extras features. Destiny 2 became ordinary and standard.
Bungie pulled a 180º and it left it’s committed audience baffled, stunned and confused. Why would they do this to us? Three years. We where here for three years! This is the real complaint. This is why it hurts. This is why Destiny 2 is failing.
After building and going through the growing pains, Bungie decided that they were going to launch a sequel to Destiny 1. After learning what everyone could want out of the game. Can you believe it? They worked hard, having conversations with fans and staff for three years, perfecting and fine tuning the game they started with. They took three years, and then threw it right back in our faces.
One of the biggest complaints fans have is, Why even make a Destiny 2?
Bungie took everything away. Then, justified it by telling its existing audience of fans that it would be because the game was going to be something new, it would be bigger and better and a game full of stories and adventures. New content and new weapons!
WOW! The majority thought! More than D1? There’s going to be all new stuff? It all sounded too good to be true. Bungie had promoted itself as taking everything away so that it could die in the past. They made it seem that all of the old stuff wouldn’t matter anymore, there would be new content and better things to do in D2 that would make us say, “Wow! Who cares about D1 now!??”
Alas, this is not what they did. They stayed true to their technical promises. They had removed everything great that fans had worshiped the game for. Bungie stripped the D1 game to it’s skivvies and left players feeling cheated. Now that may read as an over-dramatic statement. So I’’m going to list everything Bungie took away from D1 to make this “brand new experience”
The Crucible.
1. The ability to select which game mode you wanted to play, forcing players into a playlist.
2. The ability to have private matches.
3. The Ability to have up to six people on a fire team.
4. Ranked matches. There is only one way to follow your stats after competing in a non competitive match of Destiny 2 Crucible, Their website.
Strikes.
1. The ability to select which game mode you wanted to play, forcing players into a playlist.
2. Removing strikes from planets, forcing players to use the strikes playlist, rather than allowing players to choose what they wanted to do.
Bungie.Net
1. The ability to access, view and make changes to your vault. Forcing players to use the Destiny companion app on their phones, that doesn’t support Destiny 1.
2. The ability to access and review a library of Grimoire Cards. Forcing the player to venture through loading screens and menus to read or reread all of Destiny lore and history in game.
Then there’s the things that they changed for the sake of changing them.
Quests or missions are now called “Milestones.” They didn’t change how these worked they just renamed them.
Patrols are confined to a planet. Allowing the player to choose when and where, if they wanted to do a patrol.
Removing unique Faction Leader rewards.
Where Faction leaders used to reward players with unique drops, Faction leaders now all pull from the same rewards list and drop them back at you with a random number that reflects the average number of your equipped gear. (Yeah, that’s not simplifying it guys!)
ZUR
The mystery man selling raid ready gear and exotics that you could only get from doing unique specific content in D1, now sells the exotics that you can earn at any point in game before he even sells them.
SHADERS
Free random drop shaders that a player could earn while playing specific content was removed in lieu of a new system where a player could earn a one time use cosmetic shader that could be applied to any peace of gear or weapon. The down side to this is that special unique legendary and exotic shaders are being sold through an optional. pay for random system with a face named, “Tess Everis.” Players can earn Silver Dust or pay with real money for a random drop of a shader that can only be used one at a time.
Vault to Weapon ratio.
The vault only holds 200 weapons, gear, and inventory. We came from a vault that offered over 100 slots for each, including pages worth of space for weapons.
My god! This list could probably, go on and on….
It’s embarrassing, to invest into a game for years, to work month after month giving feedback and finally seeing it realized in year three of Destiny 1; only to see the majority of it taken away from you. What makes it even worse, what really rubs salt in the wound, Is the blatant lack of respect for the gamers that invested their money and time into the universe.
I stated earlier that Bungie changed the focus of who their demographic would be for Destiny 2. (I’ll come back to this again later.) They wanted to make the game more accessible and enjoyable for the casual gamer. But, Why? They had already built and worked for a community for three years. Three years! it’s not like the community was going to abandon the series. Players had developed careers out of following the game’s story, plot, progression. All of the lore of the game was reduced to zero for a fresh start and a new experienced that had one focus…. MAKING MONEY FROM GAMERS.
It’s becoming more and more clear that Bungie is in the business of scamming people of their money. In a time when gamers are complaining about EA doing the same to their fan base with Battlefront II before the game was even released, Bungie decides it’s in their best interest to do the same to their audience that already existed!
Bungie is doing one thing and one thing only to Destiny 2. They are trying very hard, working almost endlessly at making a game that is automated and standard. Destiny 2 has become ordinary. It is a grind fest without an entertaining incentive with loot that was once the main incentive of the game, is now a gambler’s chance. It has become repetitive and stale. Shoot and kill on Planet A, earn a token so that you may pay to get something random. Then go to Planet B, earn a token so that you may pay to get something random. OR just pay for it in the main hub. Etc, etc Repeat, repeat.
Bungie has attempted to add a story that builds and expands from Destiny 1, without giving players any real reason to be invested in these new stories. With the stories and the game play, there is no real threat. There’s never urgency, or a compelling enough moment to keep players invested or wanting to come back to replay.
Another player told me he was having a hard time finding anything he wanted to replay or re-experience in Destiny 2. That’s when I found myself asking, “Is there anything I would want to replay in D2? Is there anything at all that I would want to re-experience?
The answer, was no. Bungie forces players to repeat missions or leaves the options to re-play quests and adventures. The thing is, Why would we want to? Why? There’s no incentive at all for doing it again. They’ve created a universe where the story is a one time opportunity to experience a cinematic video that adds absolutely nothing to the world. At the same time, it doesn’t take away anything either.
Bungie has even ignored lore that they created. Players have pointed out the plot holes and inconstancies of the overall story arch. Yet, Bungie acts like it was intentional and that there’s a bigger story that ties it all together. However, they can’t get the content out in time for launch day because it isn’t ready. Plus, they plan on charging us for that content in DLC and Expansion packs.
We, the consumer of your product, understand that you have to make money as a business, but nickel and dime-ing, milking the wallets of players who have invested time in your product, stringing us along in circles is a slap in the face to every single fan.
The audience is changing in Destiny, and it’s not for the better. People are starting to catch on, they are noticing how they are being treated, and they’re rebelling, The once, tight nit community is beginning to raise their voices with their, wallets, time, and voices.
Big name, elite players of the game, are quitting at a rate that the comunity hasn’t ever seen before. These are players and channels that built their name and following on Destiny, and they are leaving the game because of the state it’s in. That’s not something people are doing because they think it will make them more money. That’s not something people are doing because they believe in the developer to make things right. To respect and value their audience. It’s something people do when they can not find a solution to a problem they can no longer contribute a positive attitude for.
Bungie might be shocked that their dedicated fans are jumping ship. But they couldn’t be further removed from the conversation that matters.
Destiny gamers gave Bungie three years to get it right. Bungie is acting like they’ve only been working on D2 for eight months.
Dedicated fans of anything aren’t stupid, and they won’t willingly be taken advantage of. Some might quit sooner than others.
See, Bungie is like that girlfriend you’ve had for three years saying, “We’re going on a break next week, Then starting over in two weeks.” Then, just as before, she comes back after two weeks and is acting like you guys just met; and although she’s acting the same as before, she insists that she has changed and is changing. See, Now, she has a new wardrobe; but if you want to see the full collection —you’re going to have to pay for it with your time or with your money. See the difference? You can still do the same things as before, you can still have fun together, you can still get into the crucible. It’s just now, It’s all on her terms with your money and your time.
I won’t subscribe to that and don’t expect you to do that either. I wouldn’t expect any self respecting person to commit to behavior like that. Not one.
There are some positives that have come from D2, but they are very few, and none of them are an improvement on the previous three years of Destiny; rendering the confusion, baffled, and stunned looks on everyones faces when Bungie says, “Give us more money! For the sequel that never had to be made in the first place.”
See, that’s the thing about sequels. They’re supposed to be an improvement over the previous iteration. This is true for everything in life. TV shows, Movies, Video Games, Birthdays. Although we age, although somethings evolve. We become better with time. When we don’t, when we fail to, that’s when we feel disappointed.
But the reality is, for now, I’m still very torn on what to do. I like many, Pre-Ordered Destiny 2 for $100. Money I earned and invested believing I was going to get something, overall —better.
I feel forced into a contract that I don’t want anymore. I must play the game to get most of my monies worth. To be frank, I still have an ounce of hope left. A hope that Bungie will come to their senses. A Hope that they will give me back D1 options in D2. A hope that they will expand on D1 and continue to make it better. A hope that they will work hard at making a game worth my time.
The improvements I feel the Destiny’s audience wants, aren’t improvements at all. We just want what we loved back. Then they can add and tweak the mechanics to make an even better game.
Sadly, with the companies current focus of money being their first priority —I fear that this will either be years away, all over again! I fear that they will want to charge us for anything they do.
I keep thinking of a this analogy,
“I pay a licensed and highly recommended flooring company to install new floors in my first home, so when it came time to buy my vacation house, I knew exactly who I would use. He had worked with me every step of the way in my first home and I knew the quality of his work was unmatched by anyone for miles. Plus he knew now what to expect from me.
Well, day one of the vacation home and the guy tells me I need to remove the base slab before I install new floor. He tells me, it’s so the new floor will lay better than before. I say better than before? Wow! Okay, lets get started! He completely removes the old slab and lays the new one down; and it’s the same as before, except it’s blue now. In fact, it has some cracks.
I ask him, what’s wrong with the slab and why does it have cracks? He tells me not to worry about it, and that he will tend to it before he lays down the new flooring. So weeks go by and he’s about to pick up the new flooring to lay it down, when he calls me and says, “I’m here picking up the floor you asked for, but there’s another floor here that I think will work for you, it’s even better!
I’m blown away! I didn’t think there could be anything better than what I wanted!
So he starts installing the new floors when I arrive at my house only to see the exact same floor I chose but it’s green! GREEN! Can you imagine how upset I am? He’s installed a third of the floor already and I notice the cracks in the blue slab have not been fixed!
What is this? I yell. “I asked for these cracks to be fixed, and what made you think I wanted a green floor?
He calmly apologizes and says he’ll be back next week with a fix.
Next week comes and he shows up with a wood accent. It looks great, but it’s not what I wanted! He then Reminds me that I already payed a deposit and If I want him to finish it, the choices are going to have to stay. He also adds that unfortunately he can’t fix the cracks in the new slab but that the floors he’s installing won’t make it noticeable. He also tells me that the wood accent is going to cost me extra! He already laid down a little bit of it and he won’t charge me for that, but to finish the floor with the wood accent he’s going to have to charge me for it!
The furry in my vanes is approaching a boiling point. I can’t believe this guy!
I can’t back out now. I’ve already invested in the services and although It’s not what I wanted, It does look really great. I told him to give me another week. He’s coming back next week to finish what he started and has also offered to do the baseboards (at no extra cost) to complete the space he was working in.
I’m not sure what to do…..”
See that’s exactly where I am with Bungie.
They’ve strung me along with their mistakes and I’m paying for it. Do I continue with their service, get my moneys worth and then split. Riding on the chance that I may like what they do in the end. OR do I cut all ties with them immediately, find someone else and get exactly what I’m looking for.
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