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

« on: May 03, 2026, 07:04:58 pm »

Extreme Prejudice - Justified by way of cocaine fueled 80s machismo. Great cast, loads of squibs, and just an all around good time.

Zootopia 2 - Rehashes the themes of the first, but with enough of a twist to still feel pretty fresh. The meta jokes almost all made me chuckle, but it does lean on them a little too much. All-in-all a solid Disney sequel.

Iron Angels - Super brutal with tons of squibs, gunfire, torture, and henchmen deaths. The kind of discovery that makes me so happy that a lot of lesser known and forgotten Hong Kong features are getting attention from boutique physical media labels.

Iron Angels 2 - A little lighter on the action, but with a far more coherent story. Also arguably not even a 'girls with guns' film, since it spends a lot of time with the male Angel and his bros.

Bottoms - Liked it even more this time. Love how it juxtaposes pretty drastic realism against complete absurdity.

3:10 to Yuma - Thought it was fine in 07 and thought it was close to great today. Ben Foster is an absolute menace.

Iron Angels 3 - Worst of these by a huge margin. Gunfight choreography is abysmal, plot is non-existent, and Moon isn't even involved in the final action sequence - which also has a laughable hero entrance / reveal.

It's not all bad, though. A badass evil white lady is the main villain, the body count is huge, and there's an incredible kickboxing interlude in the middle of the film that might be the best fight in the whole franchise.

Infernal Affairs - Infernal Affairs vs. The Departed is maybe the prime example of style and execution being the key differentiating factors when comparing an original to the remake. The plot is exactly the same, but the movies couldn't feel more different, and they were only made 4 years apart. I still personally prefer The Departed for how much a focus it puts on developing the personalities of all the characters, but Infernal Affairs is still a perfectly paced breakneck thriller.

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: April 24, 2026, 02:01:27 pm »

Invincible Season 4 - I hate that this show keeps on being so enjoyable with its story and characters while having very underwhelming animation.  The quality animation came out so briefly and they've taken so many shortcuts.  Like this show should be so big, but the art is so stiff, so not what it could be.  And it's not even just comparing to high quality anime we get on the regular, but there's western animation that is far above this.  Castlevania was doing crazy stuff and I've seen people bring up stuff from television years ago like the 90's/00's Batman/Superman/Justice League show that had better art and more impactful animation, but a massively high budget show like Invincible in 2026, with it's 8 episodes (Long episodes or not) just can't do it? And the show has degraded in quality, I remember Season 1 being better, but it's like they streamlined things since then and it's just lead to lesser quality, which is just very frustrating.

I still really like this show, I'm looking forward to the couple seasons left, I'm glad it's around, I just wish the animation and art could match up to the rest of the shows quality.

I'm on episode 5, and this is pretty much where I'm at.  I really like the show and the way it handles comic book tropes, but sometimes it feels really flat.

Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat - Bigger and more outlandish than Jury Duty in a way that makes the first season look quaint and simple.  The whole premise is so much more complicated this time around, which lets them get away with being a bit wilder and more outlandish, but that also kind of makes it feel like subtraction via addition.  Sure there's more, but what made the first season so good was how small and quiet and believable everything was.  Still a terrific series, and I hope to see more.

Season 2 of The Pitt kind of does the reverse.  It's still anxiety inducing and incredible, but there's no huge 'thing' that happens this season to rival the first season, making it feel a more subdued.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is just a different overall fell.  And when you are the best how on TV by this wide of a margin, you can do that.

Finished Invincible.   Thoughts remain pretty much the same.

Season 3 of Shrinking is the weakest.  Still a superb show, with amazing performances across the board (Harrison Ford doing some of the best work of his career).  This season just felt a bit too much like a traditional sitcom, and kinda dropped the ball with one of the more serious storylines.

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

« on: April 24, 2026, 01:56:12 pm »

The Shadow Riders - Very well-crafted for an early 80s made-for-TV joint. Pretty good cast, sturdy L'Amour plot (though nothing special). Music doesn't really fit the production.

The Housemaid - Campy trash but entertaining campy trash.

Strange Darling - Just an absolute showcase of killer performances from Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. Really loved the dynamic between them. Looks absolutely phenomenal, with really striking lighting.

Return of the Street Fighter - Fights are good, plot is non-existent, missing some of the brutality that made the first stand out. It's totally fine.

Wicked: For Good - Look, I know the first half wasn't perfect, but I still really like it... what happened? The second half of the play isn't as strong, either, but they really dropped the ball across the board here.

Dead Heat - The overall concept is a lot of fun, and it wants to play everything fast and loose, but the humor is super hit or miss. Might have been better played completely straight.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: April 18, 2026, 02:19:41 pm »

Still chugging at the series with Mega Man X4.  Looks great, with some really cool boss designs.  Overall it felt much easier than other titles.  Theres a little bit of a difficulty spike at the end, but nothing outlandish.  The first game in the series with voice acting and it is absoultely terrible, which has its own flavor of charm.

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General / Re: April 2026 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

« on: April 16, 2026, 09:45:21 pm »

Got a Switch 2 and the remastered Mario Galaxy set.

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

« on: April 13, 2026, 08:52:34 pm »

The Tin Star - Basically an excellent two-hander between Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins that looks phenomenal. A character stumbles into the camera after a shootout in way that made sit up and say, "Oh that was so cool!"

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: April 04, 2026, 09:39:58 pm »

Second season of For All Mankind is great.  Felt like a step up from the first (which I did really like) in pretty much every conceivable way.  Terrific show.

Third season of For All Mankind would be the best so far if not for two storylines that involve the children of characters from seasons 1+2.  They ultimately end up in some very interesting places, but getting there is rough.  Everything it sets up for season 4 is pretty great, but some of the end feels a bit rushed.

And the fourth season of For All Mankind done.  Still pretty great, but they seem to be moving away from the harder speculative sci-fi and more towards a harder focus on the socio-political commentary.  Not necessarily a bad thing, just a shift in the overall focus of the show.

Second season of Paradise starts of really strong, but I really started losing interest and noticing just how melodramatic everything is in the back half.  It wants to move beyond the initial elevator pitch, and I don't know that it is really working for me.  Still an entertaining watch, but not really all that great.

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General / Re: Do you still prefer physical games or digital?

« on: April 04, 2026, 09:20:08 pm »

Picked up a copy of Assassin's Creed Mirage for PS5.

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General / Re: Do you still prefer physical games or digital?

« on: March 31, 2026, 06:29:14 pm »

I'll always support physical, but I'm also a PC gamer and PC has been digital only for many years now, so I do both. I reserve physical to consoles these days, which I have a PS5 and I still have my Switch games even though I don't have a Switch at the moment.

Same here.  Physical for anything console related (unless the price is too good to pass up), but I also love my Steam Deck, and there's no actual option there.

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General / Re: Older consoles or handhelds that you regret sleeping on when they were modern

« on: March 29, 2026, 02:49:13 pm »

I legitimately think the only PS1 game I have ever played is Symphony of the Night, and that wasn't when it was new.  I went N64 that gen, and I didn't know anyone with a PS1.  And at this point, I have no idea what I might have mossed.

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

« on: March 29, 2026, 02:23:00 pm »

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come - The biggest strength of the first film is the simplicity of the set-up, so you are automatically giving some of that up to tee up a sequel, which is just a bit more complicated in the pursuit of one-upmanship. Still a ton of fun, and the cast is having a ball. If you liked the first one definitely check this one out.

WALL-E - Man, I really forgot just how much I love this. The score, the sound design, WALL-E and EVE. Just a masterpiece of a picture. The human story obviously exists only to appease producers who needed to make it marketable, but it's still a sharp and funny satire whose only major flaw is failing to perfectly match the tone of the rest of the film.

Eastern Condors - There is absolutely zero fat on this. Who needs things like characterization when a trio of lady guerrillas is just mercing folks left and right before we even see the first bit of action from Sammo Hung and his squad?

Pandorum - There is absolutely nothing here you haven't seen done better elsewhere, but it is still a totally fun space madness creature feature.

She Shoots Straight - Excellent stunt work (of course), good cast, and a fun plot that just gets a little lost in the melodrama in the second act.

The Departed - Marty makes a soap opera, and it is magnificent.

Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood - Aged surprisingly well and is still pretty funny, especially considering all of the issues I have with the Wayans made Scary Movie flicks.

Lady with a Sword - Good stuff. A little bit more than your standard revenge tale by providing a unique hiccup in the heroine / antagonist relationship.

The Valley of Gwangi - The concept and special effects deserved a better movie than what is here. A bunch of bland characters in a boring retread of King Kong.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 29, 2026, 02:21:37 pm »

Speaking of Platinum trophies, I just got it for Prince of Persia: The Last Crown.  I hadn't intended to, but I made it to the last boss and I only had like 4 left and they were all pretty easy.  Great game.  Terrific map, great movement, combat was mostly solid (but it sometimes had issues getting your character to face the right direction).  Just had a lot fun with this.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Report: PS6 2029 | Switch 2 price increase soon?

« on: March 28, 2026, 10:17:33 pm »

Yep, this was coming with all the news about chip shortages last year. A big part of the reason I finally bought a PS5 this most recent Black Friday.

As for Switch 2, they are apparently cutting production of new consoles by 30%. Nintendo commented on it but didn't necessarily deny it.

Yeah, this PS5 news has me ready toget a Swtlitch earlier than I planned just to avoid a potential price increase.

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

« on: March 28, 2026, 11:16:41 am »

Wolfwalkers - Just an absolutely stunningly gorgeous film that feels like it might be doing a bit too much for such a relatively standard fairy tale.

The Far Country - Kinda weird watching Stewart be such an unadulterated prick, but it is still another solid collaboration with Anthony Mann. That fella could shoot the hell out of a Western.

Project Hail Mary - Pretty much the exact same strengths and weaknesses as the book. First act is a little clunky and exposition heavy, but once things really pick up it's a total charmer of a science buddy mystery. Flashback narrative device exists basically for a single late game reveal. If this is outside of my Top 5 by year end I'll be shocked.

Moana 2 - Sure, it's a step down from the first (especially in the song department), but it looks great, has a couple of cool set pieces, and I really dug a couple of the new characters.

Lady Reporter - Needs more of this: "What about you, lady? You wanna try my kung fu?"
"Of course I wanna try you piece of shit."  and less of this: "We thought you were a whore!"

Hostiles - Absolutely gorgeous film with an incredibly stacked cast, but if you are going to make movie about a white guy overcoming (or at minimum coming to terms with) his prejudices, maybe remember to make your non-white characters actual characters next time?

Code of Silence - With a mostly solid script that calls out police corruption (doesnt stick the landing on that, though), good direction from Andrew Davis, and a ton of support from a plethora of characters, it's not surprising this is considered one of Chuck's best.  He's got the physicality of an action star, but he's just so bland.  Say what you will about Seagal, but at least he's interesting to watch.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

« on: March 17, 2026, 08:49:30 am »

Just finished a playthrough of Dark Souls Remastered as a magic user.  Haven't played in 5 or 6 years, so itvwas a cool refresher while also doing a new style of play.  Felt like early game was more difficult than expected because of the limited spell options, but it was cool to see what stuff unlocked and became useful as it goes along.  I don't think it really changes how you play all that much, but I had fun and am glad I did it.