Ricky Namara – Google

This review of the movie over at the Guardian sums it up nicely: "There is a wonderful exchange in Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Tenet, between Robert Pattinson and John David Washington. “Hngmmhmmh,” says Pattinson. “Mmghh nmmhhmmmm nghhh,” replies Washington. Marvelous." Pretentiousness isn't art. And the audience isn't as dumb as you think. Try to pass pretentiousness as art, and get ready to be called out for it.

I'm a teacher, and this anime felt WAY too real! Sometimes we have to put on a happy mask for the kids to shield them from the true darkness of real life. A colorful, warm little theater that becomes a core memory that the kiddos can use on the coldest days of their adult years. This anime addressed what the costs are for adults who do that for the sake of a child's happiness. tl;dr version: If you are ever a little brat in school, call your teachers and apologize to them right now.

Isn't it funny that the people who review-bombed the Orville are now turning around and appreciating it after Star Trek: Lower Decks did EXACTLY what it did five years later? Apparently the message the Trekkies wants to send is "Do your own thing as long as Star Trek did it first!" This is why gatekeeping fanboys are exhausting! Anyways, great show that is always two steps away from perfection. That is not a jab. That is a high compliment. If you want a space-faring show that doesn't take itself way too seriously like Star Wars did, this is the show for you! And now if you'll excuse me, I need to hide in my bunker after angering the fanboys of both franchises!

Watched it out of sheer curiosity. Now I regret even spending 10 minutes with it, much less 100 minutes. The movie played like a video game cutscene, complete with a mini-Boss squad the so-called hero has to take down before getting to the Big Bad. I do not believe for a second that Zoe was supposed to be a normal teenager. The role was written like a retired assassin who is forced to take up arms one last time. The "Good Guy With A Gun" myth that conservatives love so much might work with that type of character. The whole setup felt like a crock when you apply it to someone who is supposed to be a kid who just hunts deers real well. Don't bother with this. If you want a "Good Guy With A Gun" story that is actually good, just go and watch Die Hard again.

I think the main issue of this movie is in the marketing. "Oh, it's Simon Pegg!" the advert folks exclaimed, "He's funny! This should be marketed as a funny movie!" And then when folks arrived in theater expecting a Shaun of the Dead kind of experience, they were disappointed that it was a heartfelt tale of a paranoid man instead. Not that the movie itself is completely innocent either. There were times that I felt the movie could have gone full parody but chose to pull back its punches. Likewise, there were times it could have been completely serious but instead fell back to the comforts of silliness. It's trying to have its cake and eat it too, and we all know what will happen when THAT becomes the choice. All in all, not as terrible as the critics described but not as amazing as the Simon Pegg fans paint it to be. It was just okay, and nothing is wrong with that.

Somebody over here claimed they've played JRPGs ever since the 90s, yet only gave it two hours before dumping a less-than-stellar review. If you truly know your JRPGs, you should also know that it takes more than two hours for any game in the genre to flesh itself out. Hell, some action games takes more than two hours before revealing all of their cards! I've played video games since Pong was on an arcade machine. I've played every single genre of video games since then. Yes, including gacha mobile games. In all the games I've seen in this genre, this love letter to the Golden Age of JRPGs is nothing short of a modern day masterpiece. Was it perfect? No, of course not. The Overdrive System keeps the battles fresh and engaging, but I wished the developer had ran through the randomization once more before publishing. Often times I found that not a single one of my party members had a move to lower the gauge only to discover that was because one party member in the reserves was hogging ALL the moves! This is one of those things where less randomization would have benefitted the game a lot more. Was it something I wished more triple-A video game developers had done with their games? You bet your britches it was! I'm happy that more JRPG developers are realizing that random encounters is an outdated concept. I'm less enthused to see them constantly using level-gating and grinding to justify playtime lengths. A longer, grindier JRPG does not equal a better game, and Chained Echoes proved that by not wasting time and directly go for the good stuff. Be it story beats, mechanical development, or exploration, not a single one of them are level-gated with pointless grinding and delivers a more compact experience. Once again, the game is not perfect, but it is far more deserving than a two-out-of-five stars just because you can't, in the immortal words of Soulsborne players, "git gud."