Ethan Miguel “E.M.” Serkey

Just before or after Matthew Shepard died, I bought and watched this movie before I came out in high school in the '90s. A grayscale picture of the two of them was my desktop background for, like, ever( until screen resolutions improved so much that stretching it got to be way overboard). I had the VHS, the script of the play, and at least two copies of the DVD I think. I waited on pins and needles for it to come to Blu-ray and streaming. "Dream a Little Dream" is still my ultimate romantic and hopeful song.

As a mostly-Nintendo gamer, I've been pretty cool on the PoP series which has left Nintendo out in the cold for a while. But based on the hype and previews, I picked this game up day one and I was not disappointed. Metroidvania turns out to be a perfect fit for this classic series IP, and the epic story does the genre justice. Not only that, but I was able to play a Persian story in Persian( with English subtitles)! The rich mythology of Persia suffuses the storyline and there's a ton more to dive into in collectibles. This game is a hands down must-play for all fans of platform action.

I would love to try this game, but the demo is unplayable for me because I can't invert the y-axis.

I love this version of Robin's origin; watching Batman fall in love with being a parent when he wasn't expecting it is delightful and couldn't have hit the same way in any other context/medium.

It shouldn't work. It really shouldn't work. But it ABSOLUTELY does, partly because of all the attention it gives to side characters played by wonderful names and faces you should know already, and if you don't you'll have a ton of fun discovering them. As for the main characters, the Martins are tried and true comedy duo, and Selena Gomez is gradually more fantastic as the mysterious, messed up, but ultimately empathetic Mabel. And then season 2 goes and tops the whole thing!

The game has an ambitious idea and its plot easily supports the very gamified interactions with the environment, but its puzzles often take a little too long to complete after figuring them out.

A must see for anyone who's ever felt too messed up to make a difference. We're back in the classic DCAU( albeit with some rougher language in a few spots), and (Super)man, does it feel good! It's a shame about that swearing, because kids who are disabled, or facing depression, or coping with trauma, could definitely benefit from the empathetic portrayal of Star Boy's schizophrenia and Limelight's PTSD/survivor's guilt. It'd be good to show them we can be heroes too, even if it sometimes takes a bit of work to convince others—or ourselves. My only complaint, if I'm going to nitpick, is Limelight's hair. In the comics, the Greatest-Green-Lantern-to-be has long, wavy tresses, highlighting her Honduran-American heritage. By instead showing her Mexican-American side more in this design, she looked too much like Jade, and I caught myself thinking of her as such multiple times in the first half of the movie.

Thinking they would use the original audio track in English as I thought they did in Japan, I tried to synch this up with the old version to watch both together. It turns out this does have new voice acting and a new script, and it's not for the better. Despite some jokes which aged poorly, the original dub version has oodles more heart and wit than the soulless new script. Unless visual effects are everything to you, do yourself a favor and watch the original instead.