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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: September 15, 2025, 05:11:22 pm »

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Just terrible. I mean, really terrible, and yet it is still way better than I remembered.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Megan Fox is legitimately missed, and Rose Huntington-Whiteley does not even come close to filling her shoes.  The action is an unabashed spectacle but is missing any real emotional resonance with the story.  Also has the same problem of the last film, treating any unnamed Transformers as generic robots that can do whatever the plot calls for at that moment.

Transformers: Age of Extinction - Something I appreciate about these movies is that they didn't forget they need to be car movies in addition to being about big robots... until halfway through this nearly three hour movie.  I actually was super into this for the first hour or so, but man, it just keeps going and going.  Then it pretty much drops the ball with the Dinobots.

Transformers: The Last Knight - The only one of Bay's entries that could reasonably be considered an actual kids movie, while also being the least Transformers-esque.  I appreciate the attempt at a lighter tone, but that's completely opposed to how utterly grim the stakes are.  Mark Whalberg parries a sword swung by a giant robot.  Anthony Hopkins is having a ball.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2025 Secret Santa!

« on: September 15, 2025, 11:08:33 am »

I'm in.  I don't see much of a reason to upset the apple cart in terms of general guidelines, but probably be fine with any changes we need to make.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: September 14, 2025, 09:41:52 pm »

Transformers - The stuff I like about this movie I really, really like. The CGI still looks great, the action is pure unadulterated Bayhem (if he ever tops that Blackout opening sequence in this franchise I'll be shocked). If this were just the alien Invasion action thriller stuff, or even just cut back on the "boy & his car" stuff like 60-75% I would probably love this. Held up better than I expected, but it's not like I ever hated this one.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Nintendo Direct - 09/12/2025 Discussion, Predictions, Hopes, Hype, Fears Thread

« on: September 12, 2025, 10:23:45 am »

I'm usually pretty forgiving on these press event / presentations, but this was awful.  90% of things mentioned were re-releases or ports.  Glad we have a Metroid Prime 4 release date, and I'll play the new Fire Emblem eventually, but otherwise... yikes.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: September 07, 2025, 05:13:24 pm »

Returnal is probably the best big budget rogue-lite ever made.  Good gameplay loop, good graphics, but I feel like they wanted the difficulty to mask the lack of unique rooms / features in the biomes.  I found my later runs were totally dependent on what gun happened to drop early on.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: September 07, 2025, 04:54:16 pm »

Deep Red - Starting to think that giallo isn't really my bag.  It's not like I hated this, but I find myself thinking stuff like, "Well it was nice that it was coherent."  It looks and sounds incredible, but like pretty much every other Argento I've seen, I just couldn't get that invested for some reason.

The only Argento films I've watched are Deep Red and Suspiria, and I sort of feel the same way. I'd like to watch at least one or two more some day before coming to an opinion, though. At the very least, I'd like to watch more of his films if only to listen to Goblin. Personally, I found myself enjoying Deep Red far more than Suspiria since the story for the latter is so underdeveloped. Deep Red is also the only giallo film I've watched, but I remember there being elements I really liked that maybe are just representative of the genre but still not being overly thrilled by it. It's often regarded as the genre's best, but I have a feeling there are lesser-known contemporaries I'd better connect with.

Today just happens to be Argento's birthday!  I've also seen Inferno and Tenebrae, and I've got the same general opinion on those as well.  Lots of style, not quite enough substance, but killer soundtracks.

Return of the Jedi - Sure, it's a little messy narratively (Leia being Luke's sister really does come out of nowhere), and it has probably taken a bit of a reputational hit because a lot of the issues with the modern state of the franchise originate here, but it is still maybe the most purely watchable of the original trilogy.  The throne room confrontation is probably my favorite material in Star Wars, while Jabba's Palace and the final space battle are two of the best setpieces of all time, let alone in Star Wars.

Wild Wild West - Jesus christ. It's not without its merits, like some aspects of its production design, Kenneth Branaugh's delightfully unhinged performance, and I laughed at a couple of jokes, but I generally found it unpleasant and mostly unfunny. Jonah Hex has mostly the same plot, if not as stupidly outlandish, and while that film rather cowardly avoids the fact that the villains are ex-Confederates, this one at least puts a spotlight on it. I just really did not like this.

Erin Brockovich - I know I've watched this before, but I was probably a whiny little shit teen, and literally all I remembered was the trailer.  Razor sharp screenplay that deftly balances being a single mom rom-dram and a smart, fast-paced legal thriller that is edited together masterfully.  Julia is at the absolute pinnacle of her powers here.  On fire in every scene, and the movie is smart enough to know that her brassy nature doesn't always get her way, which sometimes makes her feel like a bully.

Inglourious Basterds - Still feels like a series of great, but unrelated, vignettes, and a couple of performances that don't quite work for me.

The Thursday Murder Club - Delightful and cozy murder mystery. Doesn't really do anything special, but it doesn't need to. Did find it a little hard care about the retirement home's potential closure because these people obviously have enough money to live comfortably anywhere.

Caught Stealing - I think this might be first time I actually enjoyed myself while watching an Aronofsky film? Basically just an airport thriller with an incredibly talented filmmaker behind it, which I don't think I realized until the last 5-10 minutes.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale - It's more Downton!  For all the good and bad that comes with.  It looks incredible, has great performances, occasionally feels a little tone deaf with how much it wants you to sympathize with these obscenely rich people, and makes Molesly suffer.  You know, Downton!  The very end felt like it was trying to hard too make you feel really sad it's over, which felt lame because it had been doing such a good job doing naturally before then.  Maybe I should start The Gilded Age?

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General / Re: What are your least favorite boss fights?

« on: September 07, 2025, 01:35:19 pm »

Bed of Chaos in Dark Souls is an absolute disaster of a boss fight, especially considering how good the rest of the fights are, for the most part.  There are basically no other fights like it in the franchise.  Just a complete mess.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: September 05, 2025, 11:00:05 pm »

Deep Red - Starting to think that giallo isn't really my bag.  It's not like I hated this, but I find myself thinking stuff like, "Well it was nice that it was coherent."  It looks and sounds incredible, but like pretty much every other Argento I've seen, I just couldn't get that invested for some reason.

The Train Robbers - Leisurely paced, even at only 90 minutes, this later era John Wayne picture tries to straddle the line between the 1970s revisionist era and the earlier classic Hollywood Western.  It does mostly a good job, but could use a bit more grit and consequences.  Great, and unexpected, ending.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: August 28, 2025, 09:30:08 pm »

War of the Worlds (2025) - Astronomically bad.  There's only one thing that might have possibly saved this movie, and it would have to be a tremendous and magnetic lead performance.  Ice Cube gives the opposite.  So, so stupid.  There's a funny 'safe space' joke, and I thought the opening credits sequence was OK.

The Call of the Wild (2020) - If you want to make an animated movie, make an animated movie, not whatever this half-measure is.  Once Harrison Ford actually becomes a character things pick up, but that's not until an hour into the movie, so too late to really save it, but he comes close.

F1 - Looks and sounds phenomenal, but there's no reason this needed to be 2.5 hours long.

Jonah Hex - Yeah, it's pretty bad, through no fault of the impressive cast. There's just too much crappy 2000s nuMetal DNA in this thing to actually be good.

Goodfellas - Archetypal. A looming masterpiece of the medium. Every moment perfectly and purposefully selected.  Joe Pesci is iconic, but Ray Liotta is unfathomably great. He's so good you forget it's a performance.

Kelly's Heroes - Just a light-hearted romp through WWII, as one does.

The Empire Strikes Back - It's wild how much of this movie is just out and out flexing over the first.  Oh?  You thought that was impressive?  You ain't seen nothing yet.  How about we throw a muppet in for just a little extra flair?  Don't worry, it'll just be one of the most iconic characters of all time.  You like the big ships?  Check out the new super star destroyer.  One of the greatest of all time.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: August 25, 2025, 04:22:14 pm »

Got the Platinum on Spider-Man 2 last week.  Just an absolute blast of a game to play.  The story is a bit weaker than the previous PlayStation Spidey games, but more than made up for by general characterization and just how fun it is to swing around New York and beat up goons.

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General / Re: August 2025 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: August 23, 2025, 12:43:36 pm »

Actually picked up a couple yesterday:

360
Dante's Inferno

XB1
The Outer Worlds
Rare Replay

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Modern Video Games / Re: gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 thoughts?

« on: August 21, 2025, 08:09:13 pm »

Hollow Knight is, in my opinion, the absolute pinnacle of the Metroidvania genre.  The Half-Life 3 comparison is actually pretty apt - a sequel to one of the most beloved a best games of its type finally getting a release date.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: August 18, 2025, 10:49:49 pm »

I'm surprised to hear people mention the pacing as an issue. I have some issues with Part 2, but the pacing was never one of them. The game had me hooked from start to finish. I will also say the second part of the game is better than the first, which seems to be the popular opinion.

I don't know, something about spending hours with one character, just to shift to hours spent with another, then finish up the first character just came as clunky for me narratively.  It's not even outright bad, just felt kinda jarring to me.  I thought it was a weird complaint to have until I saw others agreed with me on it lol It doesn't hurt the story at all, I still liked the story, I just felt like it could have been executed a little more differently, jumping between the two more than just large chunks.

Yeah, pacing is generally the most consistent (legitimate) criticism levied at the game, and the I think the bifurcated structure is big reason of why it feels so noticeable. You spend like 6-7 hours with one character, and their story, to then immediately run back another 6-7 hour story that hammers home the exact same themes.  It makes it start to feel like a slog, which feels even more draining because of heavy the story is.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: August 18, 2025, 09:48:37 am »

54. The Last of Us Part II Remastered

This game was a lot longer and heavier than the first, which is saying something considering all of the themes of heaviness the first one dealt with. In terms of gameplay and combat, I have to give all the props to Part II; loved all the new weapons and being able to be even more stealthy. In terms of everything else, it's the first one all the way. It doesn't have anything to do with the way the events played out in the second game. It was mainly due to pacing issues and the inevitable monotony. I play stealthy, so it was sneak, strangle, gather, repeat. If things got hairy, it was because of all the guns and me panicking about where stuff was. I actually grew to like the second character that you control and their arc. Finally, hell yes to all the LGBTQUIA+ representation. We love to see it.

That pacing was my biggest issue with the game, because spending hours playing one character, just to shift to playing hours with another character, before shifting back to the other for the ending, it never felt right to me, it comes off as clunky.  It was honestly what I was looking forward to most with the second season of the tv show, which would allow to create a better narrative between the two characters, but I've heard nothing particularly good with Season 2 and I didn't like the casting for Abby so kinda stopped caring about that lol

Pacing is my big bugbear with the game as well.  I thought for sure that the show was going to take the opportunity to address it, but it is structured just like the game, which makes it worse by the fact that it will be at the very least a year before we start the second half of the story.  And we thought the game dragged things out!

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: August 15, 2025, 07:16:27 pm »

Dog Man - It's a ton of really good jokes that are probably too clever, abstract or self-aware for your average 5 year-old to really understand why they are funny, but told with the constant freneticism of a TikTok for toddlers. I also love the way it looks.

Stagecoach - It's always nice when important and influential movies are also good.

The Naked Gun (2025) - Not quite as silly as the 80s ZAZ output, and with a slightly lower rate of JPM (jokes per minute), but it is still very worthy of the Police Squad legacy. The jazz and snowman bits were my favorites.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The 4K restoration looks incredible, but that also makes it easier to see some of the seams and shortfalls of the (still) impressive practical effects and production design. Fortunately this mostly adds to the overall charm, instead of detracting from it.

I don't think enough credit is given to how much restraint this screenplay has, especially considering the subject matter.  It's smart enough to leave some things for the audience to figure out on their own, without beating you over the head - namely how Chief Sterns is extorting Charles to rein in April, by dangling criminal charges over Danny's head.

Heaven's Gate - Never has the discrepancy between a film's reputation and its actual quality made so much sense, because I cannot fathom a world where critics rejected the movie I just watched. This movie is just an obscenely rapturous vision of the great American novel, but there is no way it works the same way for critics at release with the running time it had. Every dollar spent is visible on screen, with such vivid indulgence, and that indulgence and excess are what make the film work. 20 minutes less of this movie would cripple it. Over an hour would kill it. Not for a lack of plot, but for lack of proper scale and scope.

Hot Tub Time Machine - The only reason the ending of Back the Future works and isn't the dystopia that Eric Stoltz thought it was is because Marty was still a kid. Upending the entire lives of 3 middle aged men and every person in their lives does not work the same way.

The Three Musketeers (2011) - Dangerously close to actually being Paul WS Anderson's best.  Great set and costume design marred by some ghastly green screen and CGI. Maybe my favorite Orlando Bloom performance?  Doesn't do nearly enough alt history stuff to justify airships, and Logan Lehrman, while better than Chris O'Donnell in the 93 version, doesn't really fit in.  At least he's least up for the action stuff.

Monsters, Inc - The fact that the first Best Animated Film Academy Award went to Shrek instead of this is a war crime.

Airport - Kinda wild that this basically spawned an entire genre.  It's not bad or anything, but it's a bit sprawling and drawn out.