Jesse McGuire

This game feels like the pinnacle of evolution for the rhythm-based music genre. Much like previous Harmonix games, it may not fully prepare you for life as an actual musician (in this case, a stage DJ), but it gives you the general feel of it wrapped in a very entertaining environment. Anyone will be able to pick it up and start mashing all sorts of songs together while having a good time, but if you want to get more complex, this game has all of the complexity you could ever ask for. From mastering the cuing of songs on both the downbeat and the pickups, to expertly-timed muting and solos, to switching the tempo or key of the music, and even the inclusion of creating your very own instrumental loops on the fly (the addition of this feature still blows my mind), there seems to be an infinite number of ways to make a set that gets the people jumping. The Social feature is a nice touch as well, allowing you to see what other players are putting together, usually in the form of challenges put out by the developers. If you reminisce about your glory days on Guitar Hero / Rock Band, or just wanted to try to be the next Girl Talk, you owe it to yourself to nab this game.

I was excited to see some new mutants (get it?) come to the big screen, but this is definitely a Young Adult movie, first and foremost. The whole film feels muted, with no big plot points, no shocking reveals, and no twists to keep you wondering what's going to happen. They set up this spooky old "hospital" as the setting, and barely do anything with it. All of the scares that take place in this "horror movie" are just mildly creepy visuals, like it's a Goosebumps book. So why 2 stars? Why not 1? Because it feels like they tried to do the source material justice, at least in terms of the characters. Maisie Williams' Rahne is probably as close to Wolfsbane in the comics as it's going to get, Scottish accent and all. Sam and 'Berto don't have the full buddy dynamic down, but still work well together, and look great when they (finally) use their powers. Majik, however, takes the visuals to 11 with her limbo-hopping, sword-wielding antics, and is definitely the highlight of the movie. Moonstar is...there. Basically, the third act shows that these characters have potential, especially if merged into the MCU with other X-Men, but you have to sit through a dull movie first.