__Hello. Well, the summer's over, students are returning to school to begin a new year, and it's time for me to give another report on what I've been watching (or playing, as the case may be) over the past month.
__It's worth mentioning that my writing method underwent a change this month. These brief reviews are always copied and pasted from my Twitter page, but now I've added an extra step, at least in terms of movie-related ones. I've recently started rating movies on Metacritic, and some movies require you to include a written review along with the rating. I've decided to make my reviews exactly fifty words – not too long, but with a little more effort than simply saying, "It's good," or whatever – and that's now the model I follow with all my remarks on movies: I'll start with the fifty-word review for use on Metacritic, then shorten it for Twitter so it fits into a single tweet. I'm torn on whether I should include the full versions on this blog, but for now, I'll keep things regular and use the Twitter versions, so at least the movies and video games will get the same treatment.
__With that said…
__Let's start with a few cinema releases, all of which I saw on the same day thanks to my Cineworld Unlimited card.
I haven't read the book, but this movie has an aura of generic young adult fiction, which I doubt represents it well. Almost the whole tale is told in flashback, and the few interludes in the present are mostly injected at random.
My rating: 55%.
It has an ingenious take on the UFO concept. But most of the dialogue went over my head, so I got the gist of the story but none of the flavour. There's a theme early on of animals being phased out of the film industry, but that doesn't go anywhere.
My rating: 55%.
Every character feels like they've stepped out of a completely different movie, resulting in a mishmash of personalities without a steady hand to guide their merging. The characters and action scenes are often too ludicrous to be amusing.
My rating: 45%.
Unlike Ragnarok, this sequel lacks any sense of zeal, so the plot is unremarkable and the humour comes off as just plain silly. Still, I like how Mjolnir's condition becomes an advantage, and the ending alone makes it worthwhile.
My rating: 55%.
__Next, several other movies from this year that I felt like catching up on.
The first half is decent but nothing special. The second half ramps up the silliness as the action escalates, but never to the point of annoyance. The camerawork is appropriately chaotic during the outdoor scenes to match Angela's agoraphobia.
My rating: 60%.
An intriguing fact-based drama. I like how, at first, we're firmly in the shoes of the rescuers, uncertain if the boys are even still alive. The production design and camerawork are top-notch, brilliantly depicting the caves' narrowness.
My rating: 75%.
Nicolas Cage plays a parody of himself in this self-aware comedy drama. The satire almost works, but there's some bizarre editing and spontaneous histrionics that might make more sense if I were a bigger Cage fan.
My rating: 60%.
Like one of Sandra Bullock's character's novels, it's a corny romance first and an action adventure second. Overall, it's just enjoyably silly enough. The highlight is Daniel Radcliffe, who's clearly having a ton of fun playing the villain.
My rating: 65%.
True to its title, it's a quiet, laid-back movie. It almost succeeds in being a touching story of experiencing a loving family for the first time, but it falls short for me because it feels incomplete; several scenes stop prematurely.
My rating: 60%.
It's a very dry, characterless movie. Chris Evans is somewhat entertaining, but everyone else is about as emotionally deep as a chess pawn. Despite it having a budget of $200 million, the backgrounds sometimes look on par with a PS2 game.
My rating: 45%.
My expectations were essentially zero, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It draws in even non-fans thanks to likeable characters who genuinely love the sport, and I can confidently say Adam Sandler's performance is one of his best.
My rating: 75%.
My first foray into Indian cinema is an epic drama about two friends' revolutionary battle. The action is gloriously over the top, and each act of violence lands like a gut punch. All the dialogue is very obviously dubbed; is that common practice?
My rating: 80%.
The first of the three vignettes is easily the best, like a kids' horror film with characters that resemble dolls. The other two, starring anthropomorphic animals, are so bizarre that I don't care to try to make sense of the overall piece.
My rating: 55%.
Another popular movie that I can't stand. The first act is so discordant that I was confused about the events' connection to each other, and the formulaic second half was exacerbated by obnoxious characters that I got sick of listening to.
My rating: 30%.
It's pretty standard as a thriller, despite dealing with some pretty extreme ideas, but there are some moments that work well as dark comedy. It could be seen as an allegory for the modern dating scene and the dangers of letting your guard down.
My rating: 60%.
I'm not sure how this prequel affects the series' canon, but it's a solid movie in its own right. I like how the Predator's mask has a much more primitive design than the original, suggesting that they too have been developing their technology.
My rating: 70%.
__Now let's move on to video games.
__I mentioned in last month's post that I was running through the Sonic series. Well, it didn't take me long to finish it.🙂 This first section consists of the titles I was previewing via watching longplays. I have decided to buy a few of them because I liked what I saw, but doing so isn't exactly my top priority at the moment.
The daytime sections may be the best 3D depiction of Sonic's speed yet. The Werehog sections work fine as a beat-'em-up, but the idea doesn't work because I have to question the point of the transformation if Sonic's mind remains intact.
My rating: 60%.
It's a little slicker than Secret Rings, but still doesn't quite come together overall. Interestingly, in both cases, the villain is a fallen hero. This time, Sonic is in Arthurian legend and uses a sword as well as running.
My rating: 55%.
Definitely one of Sonic's best 3D outings. It's a mix of third-person and classic side-scrolling that stands out for the various special moves that the Wisps provide, and also for its humour, especially poking fun at the series' conventions.
My rating: 70%.
Several prior Sonic games took inspiration from the classics, but here the harmony reaches its height.🙂 The levels span all eras of the franchise – perfect for its twentieth anniversary – resulting in one of its absolute best entries.
My rating: 90%.
Sonic and Eggman uniting against a greater threat could have been interesting if the new villains weren't so lame. And I hate the cylindrical level design! It's like they were imitating Super Mario Galaxy but without proper context.
My rating: 40%.
It had potential as a desperate struggle of rebels fighting back against Eggman's rule, but the story takes several missteps and just becomes a confused mess. As good as it is to see Classic Sonic again, his inclusion is ultimately pointless.
My rating: 50%.
__Before we continue, I have a couple of additional notes on a couple of those games.
__The first concerns Sonic Unleashed. Given the way you balance on beams and open doors by pulling up a bar on the bottom, combined with the beat-'em-up gameplay in general, I'd be very surprised if God of War wasn't a direct influence.
__Is it me, or is Sonic faster than ever in Generations?
__I chose to preview the 3DS version of Sonic Lost World because I've found no reason to give the Wii U any attention, so I saw no point in making an exception for just one game. Not that it matters, because I won't be buying it for either. Others might point to Sonic '06 or one of the other infamous ones, but for me personally, Lost World is my least favourite of the entire franchise.
__And the last section is games I own, including the last couple of Sonic titles. If I had immediately bought the ones in the last section that I liked, and if they'd arrived in time, they would have joined this section instead. But regardless, that's it; now I've finished the Sonic series. At least until Sonic Frontiers, which is due for release later this year.
__Also, I've finally got back to playing through all my unrated games, so I've included the first one on my list from 2006 – Broken Sword: The Angel of Death – at the end. (My list is in an Excel spreadsheet; I've been adding a lot of new games lately, and I keep it saved at the next unrated title, so I was getting tired of being reminded to get back to the series every time I opened the document.) But I've decided to make a slight change to the schedule: instead of just going through every game from each year in turn, I'll play the ones that are part of a series all together. After all, before, by the time each sequel got its turn, I'd usually forgotten what happened in its predecessors. Therefore, this collection of reviews will end with Broken Sword 4, but 5 will be the first game we start with next time.
It cordially brings Sonic back to his roots. Its four zones are heavily inspired by four from the first two classics, but with enhancements in content as well as visuals, and the 3D games' homing attack is added as well.
My rating: 85%.
Tails' inclusion might suggest this chapter would draw heavily from Sonic 2, but many of the levels are original, which may be partly why it's not as endearing as Episode I. The combo moves are a great addition, though.
My rating: 65%.
It's a devoted tribute to the franchise's 16-bit roots. There are some original levels mixed in with many from the classic trilogy and Sonic CD. The returning levels are modified to keep them fresh, and the music is given a decent update.
My rating: 85%.
This one gave me the fewest new favourites. That is, while I enjoyed most of the songs I didn't already know while they lasted, there were hardly any that I'd voluntarily listen to myself. In that respect, it's the weakest of the series.
My rating: 75%.
Easily the worst Broken Sword game yet. Many of the puzzles discard any sliver of common sense, and a lot of the dialogue is just as moronic. They turned George from a goofy but competent hero into a callous idiot.
My rating: 40%.
__I lost faith in Angel of Death very early on, when you have to pass a pen and paper under a storeroom door for a person inside to write down the unlock code. Why not just talk to them through the door?! And the whole game is on that level of asininity.
__Going back to Guitar Hero 5, on top of giving me the fewest new favourite songs, it's also the first game in the series to include a song I already knew I hated: Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage. (Well, if we're splitting hairs, GH3 apparently had Suck My Kiss by Red Hot Chili Peppers, but only in co-op mode, so I wouldn't have known about it – thankfully.)
__Apparently, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was going to be a trilogy, but Episode III was ultimately cancelled.
__And now, let's end on a more positive note.🙂 The best aspect of Sonic Mania is the history behind it. Christian Whitehead was a Sonic fangame developer who was hired by Sega themselves to develop remastered ports of the original games, and Mania was the culmination of all his work.
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