TV

Dexter: Original Sin
1x06 The Joy of Killing

Richard Osman's House of Games
9x10 Week 2: Friday
9x11 Week 3: Monday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

I feel like I've been doing a lot of faffing about lately — I've done a couple of dungeons, sure, but a lot of general exploring, house stuff, crafting... Almost killing time for the sake of it, because I couldn't decide what to do (there's already a pile of quests in my journal, plus multiple major and minor places I've still not visited... and there's always the main story, of course). So today I... just got on with some actual stuff. Did a quest; carried on to a proper new location. It made almost 2 hours of playtime absolutely fly by, and I could've done a lot more; kept going for a lot longer. This is why I fell in love with the game, not doing random nothing for the sake of it. So, I really should do more of that going forward!

Video Games

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Amazon recently announced some changes to their Prime Gaming and Luna offerings (essentially, combining them under the latter brand, plus a refresh of the Prime-tier of Luna to include more recent, big-name games), and it went live this week. There are a few titles on there that I wanted to play, but this jumped straight to the front of the queue. I've been an Indy fan as long as I can remember, and this game seemed to receive nothing but praise when it came out. I nearly subscribed to Xbox Game Pass just to play this — indeed, I was still planning to at some point, but I've bought so much else for my Steam Deck and 3DS recently, I thought I should focus on them for a bit first. But, heck, if this didn't cost £60+ and reviews had said it ran well on the Deck (apparently it doesn't), I probably would've bought it and dived in. So I was ecstatic when I saw it was coming to Luna Standard (as it's now called), I've quickly dived in now it's available, and...

Well, thank goodness I didn't pay £60 for it. Or whatever the cost of Game Pass was, even. I'm about two hours in and I'm... bored, really.

So, it looks pretty great, overall — there are some issues, but that might be with how Luna runs it and/or streaming in general (if I loved it, I'd be tempted to buy it and play it through GeForce Now, which I'm considering for some other graphics-heavy titles that my Deck won't run well). In the cutscenes and so forth it does a good job of recreating the feel of an Indy movie. But the gameplay...

I suppose dying multiple times during the opening tutorial-ish section was a bad omen. I'm sure that's partly a skill issue on my part, but not entirely ("oh, I need to run now? Okay, so I press... Oh, I'm dead", repeated a couple of times until I did it right). Part of the slow pace is my desire to explore and see and find everything, but I guess there's not really enough to see to justify that. It's funny, because some people say it's really an exploration/puzzle game, but as someone who likes that kind of game, nah, it doesn't scratch that itch right.

Instead, there's a lot of stealth. I find stealth boring in concept, and turns out I do in play, too. I can see the inspiration — Indy isn't a run-and-gun killing machine, so they don't want it to be a shooter — but the Indy films are action adventures, and stealth simply doesn't feel adventurous and it's certainly not action-packed. I turned the action difficulty down to low, so the enemies and stuff weren't too difficult when they did spot me, but I wasted so much time not trying to be spotted. The level design felt like a maze, too — it didn't feel like I was exploring, it felt like I was lost.

I have so many other complaints and niggles, too. One I feel I see all too often in recently-made games I try is that it won't let you save wherever you want; it only saves when it decides to. At least that's not only at the end of a lengthy level, or only at majorly significant checkpoints — sometimes the little save icon will flash up when you enter an inauspicious room (and it's not a portent of "this seemingly unimportant room is about to be a big fight", which is how some games do it). And it does try to help you on the pause menu by stating how long it's been since the last autosave — I've not seen that before, and it's a useful feature... if only for the fact that, when I wanted to quit, it told me it had been quarter-of-an-hour since the last save. The immediately-obvious downside was that, to not lose that quarter-hour of progress, I had to keep going when I didn't really want to, at least until I trigged a new save, which took a fair while. Making you play when you don't actually want to anymore is the kind of thign that turns you off a game!

The first person view does not suit it. That feels like a funny thing for me to say, because back when I was into gaming the first time round, FPS was the genre and third-person games were often looked down upon. I feel opinion has swung in the other direction, and playing this in first person feels wrong. It's a bad fit for the property (I don't want to be Indy, I want to watch him have adventures) and for the style of gameplay (both stealth and melee combat feel so much harder in this than in third-person games I've played that use similar mechanics).

Then there's the point early on where it suggests you read the in-game manual to learn how to do stuff, and it turns out that's a mass of different screens explaining dozens of different gameplay mechanics. Why is it so complicated?! How often am I going to need to do all these different things? Should I be trying to memorise them because the game is truly flexible and I could use any at any time? Or, actually, are some only used in very specific circumstances? In which case, can't you just explain them when I get there? Or maybe you could've just made the game less unnecessarily complicated, I dunno.

I feel like I should go back to this, because I'm a huge Indy fan and this is such a praised Indy experience. Also, I've only given it one go, and I'm still quite early into it — it kinda feels like I've only done some training mission-type opening stuff; and, indeed, the level I'm on is still hand-holding a little... even as it could handhold more (that damn maze-like layout). Perhaps if I can get past these early teething troubles...

But the first barrier is the fact I don't really want to go back to it now — the complete opposite to how desperate I was to play it before. That's some cruel irony. I'm going to have to force myself, and I can't decide if it's worth that effort.

On the bright side, in this new Lina world it doesn't seem to have a time limit on the Standard tier (other games do, so it's not that they're not listing them anymore), so I guess I've got some time still to force myself back into it. That might help. Or maybe I'll lean on that possibility and just never try again. We'll see.

Videos

Critical Role
2x87 Punishment and Politics [1st half]
This is the first time Matt has a "how do I want to do this?" Not actually the first time he's sort of said it to himself (that was 28 episodes ago; clip here), but back then the others sort of just treated it as comical that an NPC had dealt the killing blow, whereas this time they make a big deal of Matt achieving it and saying the catchphrase to himself (clip here).
[Watch the whole episode (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]

TV

Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle
Part 3 Shadows and Sleuths
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle
Part 2 Fact and Fiction
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle
Part 1 Doctor and Detective

First of a three part series looking at the relationship between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous creation. It's more broad-ranging than the title might suggest, in a good way — this episode ends with Sherlock's death, spending the hour mostly talking about what led Doyle to create him, his influences, and his success in those first two novels and 24 short stories. Hopefully the next two parts continue in this vein of in-depth biography and creative history, because I've found it interesting and very informative so far.

[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Doctor Who
2x11 Desperate Measures
aka The Rescue Part Two (of two). After a strong opener with an interesting setup, Part Two almost squanders it trying to justify Barbara killing an innocent creature and everyone patronising Vicki. But the scenes in the Hall of Judgement are suitably atmospheric (Bennett tossing a chair like a petulant child excepted), and the twist is neat. Plus, at just two instalments, the story doesn’t have time to outstay its welcome — none of that Part Three treading water. A few dud parts aside, this struck me as a bit of an underrated adventure.

Films

The Killing (1956)
[#77 in The All-New 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2022]
Obviously this isn't how I run my challenge anymore, but still worth noting that this is the 100th new (to me) film I've seen in 2022.

TV

Doctor Who
3x31 The Hall of Dolls
aka The Celestial Toymaker Part 2. Not as good as the first — it feels like it's killing time, with the game Dodo and Steven have to play being not that interesting or challenging.

Taskmaster
2x04 Welcome to Rico Face
[Watch it (again) on All 4.]

TV

Killing Eve
2x02 Nice and Neat
2x03 The Hungry Caterpillar
[Watch every episode (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Graham Norton Show
25x10 (7/6/19 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Killing Eve
1x05 I Have a Thing About Bathrooms
1x06 Take Me to the Hole!
1x07 I Don't Want to Be Free
1x08 God, I'm Tired [season finale]
[Watch all episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

A new month began this weekend, and so it was time for 100 Films in a Year to look back at the last one...





Also this week, 4 brand-new reviews...


Creed (2015)

I feel wrong enjoying Creed the most out of the Rocky movies — like I’m just going for the most recent one, as if new = best — but the major reason I loved it so much is the way it has reverence for and builds on the past. As a standalone movie, it’s more-or-less equal to the best of the original Rocky films; but as specifically the seventh film in the Rocky series, it stands atop that 40-year history to add extra weight to everything.

Read more here.


The Greatest Showman (2017)

I can see why The Greatest Showman was unpopular with critics but a huge hit with audiences — it’s a proper crowd-pleaser; a big, cheesy, easy extravaganza, similar to its pop-style music. That’s not the sort of thing critics are enamoured of, but it is the kind of thing that tickles the fancy of the masses. On the whole, it didn’t appeal to me... but it did have its moments.

Read more here.


Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay (1970)

Gianni Garko's back in the saddle as the titular roguish hero for the fourth official Sartana movie, which is apparently regarded as the best one — that's what the guys on Arrow's commentary track say, anyway, and it's borne out by viewer ratings on websites like IMDb. I can't say I felt similarly, though after listening to that audio commentary, their enthusiasm and highlighting of the good stuff did help increase my enjoyment.

Read more here.


RoboCop (2014)

It should be cutting and provocative, but it’s just bland. That’s the biggest shame, because if there’s a movie 2018 needs it’s one about corrupt businessmen hijacking the government’s decision-making while right-wing TV chatterers cheer them on and police officers are replaced by an ultimate-killing-machine robot.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

this week on 100 Films

It's monthly progress report time at 100 Films in a Year!





Plus, 5 brand-new reviews...


Killing Gunther (2017)

As a comedy, I thought it was funny. Not always super original or absolutely hilarious, but ticking enough. As an action movie, some of the single-take assassination scenes are done quite well. It was clearly produced on a low budget, so the action sequences don’t really fulfil on an adrenaline-junkie level, but they work decently in context.

Read more here.


Train to Busan (2016)

shunts aside any tiredness you may feel about zombie flicks to demonstrate that, however overdone a genre may seem, there’s almost always room for fresh voices and creativity to produce remarkable work

Read more here.


Review Roundup: 15-Rated Comedies

You don’t have to be an adult to like today’s reviewed movies, but… you do have to be a teenager. Still being a teenager would probably help you enjoy them, too.

In this roundup: Airplane II: The Sequel, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Sausage Party.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Killing Gunther (2017)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

The Snowman (2017)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

this week on 100 Films

Yet another month of 2017 has passed us by, so it was time to look back at May on 100 Films in a Year...





As well, 5 brand-new reviews were published...


The Deer Hunter (1978)

The Deer Hunter was controversial before it was made (no American company wanted to touch it, leaving British group EMI to put up the initial funding), controversial when it was released (Peter Arnett, who won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the war, called the use of Russian roulette “simply a bloody lie”), and remains controversial today (Mark Kermode called it “one of the worst films ever made, a rambling self-indulgent, self-aggrandising barf-fest steeped in manipulatively racist emotion”), but is cited by some as one of the best movies ever made.

Read more here.


Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Kate Beckinsale is back in her role as a werewolf-killing vampire for the fifth entry in the Underworld series, which seems to be as undying as its star creatures... They seem to have made something of an effort to get back to the ‘world’ of the first film, with extravagant vampire covens and underground Lycan forces, while also growing the series’ mythology by introducing us to new areas of vampiredom, primarily a Nordic coven. This move also brings with it a degree of politicking among the vampires, which is kind of what I imagine a millennia-old secret society would be like. I mean, don’t expect House of Cards — it’s done at the level of the action B-movie this series is — but it’s kinda fun.

Read more here.


Plus a new review roundup that covered Charlie Bartlett, Florence Foster Jenkins, and Partners in Crime...





More next Sunday.

this week on 100 Films

A whopping 7 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week! They were...


Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

it’s dark, and to do it justice the makers needed to make it R-rated [and] they’ve done just that. So here we have a very faithful adaptation of the graphic novel… but it’s a bit short, so there’s a 28-minute prologue stuck on the front. Designed to ameliorate some of the issues people have with the original book, it’s actually only made things worse, containing brand-new controversial elements all of its own. Oh dear.

Read more here.


Blackhat (2015)

The great Michael Mann, who once helmed genre-defining crime movies with expertly-directed sequences, here delivers a movie that looks like an amateur cheapie by a film student who’s watched too many Paul Greengrass movies without learning anything meaningful from them.

Read more here.


Brooklyn (2015)

Guiding us through this, the film’s heart in every respect, is Saoirse Ronan’s leading performance. I will watch Ronan in essentially anything at this point, both because she seems to choose good material and because, even when she doesn’t, she’s great in it. This is probably her first really mature performance, convincing as a somewhat shy young woman who makes her way out into the world, in the process realising all the confidence she should have in herself.

Read more here.


Chappie (2015)

Neill Blomkamp seems to be on M. Night Shyamalan’s career path: a massively-praised Oscar-nominated breakthrough genre movie, followed by a series of increasingly maligned follow-ups.

Read more here.


Lucy (2014)

After years producing movies in the Taken stable, Luc Besson directs one himself. Unfortunately it’s a poor effort — not a bad movie, exactly, but a deeply silly one.

Read more here.


Pan (2015)

this is an exciting and enjoyable fantasy adventure, best commended for its inventive, well-realised visuals and colourful design, which when it really clicks can be quite incredible. I suppose that might not be enough to overcome a familiar plot for some viewers, but it eases the way in this particular example.

Read more here.


The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

It’s easy to dismiss films like this as twee vehicles chasing the so-called ‘grey pound’, but, in this instance at least, that would do it a disservice. When a film is as amusing and emotional as this one, while also exploring an increasingly relevant aspect of life... then its audience should reach far wider than the age bracket of its principal characters.

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Mission: Impossible II (2000)

M:i-2, as we used to call it, is pretty much everyone’s least-favourite Mission movie, a place only cemented by the two excellent instalments that have been released during this blog’s lifetime. To be honest, I’ve never really been sure why. It’s very much a John Woo movie, all overblown action and melodramatic stakes, and I’d be tempted to say that turns people off were it not for the love Face/Off receives. Personally I like his style

Read more here.


Moulin Rouge! (2001)

These days there are plenty of musicals appearing on the big screen, and they’re often contending for the top gongs come awards season. This wasn’t the case back in 2001 — Moulin Rouge, divisive as it is, changed all that. Baz Luhrmann’s injection of modern MTV style gave the genre a kick up the arse, which isn’t necessarily to the taste of classic musical fans but certainly brought the genre renewed mainstream attention.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

Films

Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)
[#129 in 100 Films in a Year 2016]

this week on 100 Films

3 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Hamlet (1964)

A black-and-white, two-and-a-half hour Shakespeare adaptation in subtitled Russian? No, wait, come back! Actually, don’t bother, because if you’re turned off by any or all of that description then, yeah, this isn’t for you. If you don’t object, however, then you’ll find a film that the likes of Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, and Sir Kenneth Branagh have hailed as the greatest film adaptation of arguably the Bard’s most revered play.

Read more here.


SuperBob (2015)

begins as a faux-documentary; a film being made about Bob and his life, which makes sense because who wouldn’t be interested in a documentary on the world’s only superhero? For us real-life viewers, though, it’s a form that feels a little tired at this point — I involuntarily groaned out loud when I realised that’s where it was going. Stick with it, though, because the conceit is all but dropped fairly early on, and the film begins to develop in nice directions.

Read more here.


X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

With so many characters to deal with, the film becomes a little overburdened with subplots. It’s trying to be a trilogy-former for the remnants of the First Class cast... but it’s also trying to introduce the new-old gang of X-Men, and establish their characters to head-up future movies; and it also has to deal with establishing its villain and his plans. It’s a big ask, and while director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg do manage to keep all the plates spinning and achieve something with most of them... some plot threads do feel perfunctory

Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


GoldenEye (1995)

Pierce Brosnan is Bond, James Bond, for the first time. After the almost-franchise-killing seriousness of Timothy Dalton, Brosnan nails Bond for the nostalgic ’90s: a dash of Sean Connery’s grit, a dash of Roger Moore’s raised-eyebrow humour, a whole lot of suaveness. For a while, the old “Connery or Moore?” question became “Connery, Moore or Brosnan?”

Read more here.


Gone with the Wind (1939)

It’s an epic in the truest sense of the word, with a story spanning many years and many miles, passing by historical events in the process. However, at it’s core it’s the story of a tumultuous romance between two people, who may love each other or may hate each other, but who, with their unique, selfish, manipulative perspectives, are surely perfect for each other.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

this week on 100 Films

Two brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher (2014)

Anime take on Marvel properties... A clichéd, heavy-handed screenplay and stilted line delivery tell a rote story through talky exposition scenes and uninspired action sequences

Read more here.


Killing Them Softly (2012)

Dominik uses news audio about the financial crisis to comment on the plot, an inclusion somewhere between neat dramatic irony and heavy-handed affectation. He gets better mileage from the mundane mechanics and economics of organised crime, but it's small consolation among flabby storytelling

Read more here.


Plus three archive reviews were reposted on the new blog...


Cathy Come Home (1966)

a powerful piece of work... As an important and timely history lesson, a challenge to prejudices that some of us may hold, and a reminder of how close most of us are to such a fate — especially right now — it remains essential viewing

Read more here.


Doctor Faustus (1967)

stylistically reminiscent of a Gothic Hammer Horror, which is either wholly inappropriate or an ingenious genre mash-up... There are repulsively horrific corpses, a harem of naked ladies, an array of special effects, plus a medieval-styled gothic atmosphere to all the sets and costumes, though the scene where Faustus mucks about with the Pope feels more Carry On.

Read more here.


Telling Lies (2001)

A simple idea, very well executed: as we listen to a series of phone conversations, the speakers' dialogue appears on screen... except instead of transcribing their exact words, it reveals their true thoughts.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.