Matt B

Jordan Peele's weakest film so far. For the record I liked Get Out (so did everyone) and Us. Where Us had appealing characters, Nope's characters fell flat for me, especially a stoic Daniel Kaluuya. It's hard to root for them at the end, but maybe that's also the point? Is show-biz itself a monster? (Yes, yes it is). The movie raises many interesting themes especially with regard to the past of Steven Yeun's character. However, there isn't enough there for a full movie on its own so it feels like it was tacked on to this one and Peele tried to make the pieces fit together, but not successfully. The UAP is unique as far as depictions of alien life go and the visuals are quite beautiful, so the movie isn't without it's good aspects. Overall it just didn't quite work for me.

The most non-sensical entry into the JP/JW franchise. A return to B-movie madness of the first Jurassic World but without any of the fun and focus. Some good individual dinosaur scenes (the tense Therizinosaurus stands out). The Malta dinosaur market/ Star Wars Cantina scene is where the franchise really jumps the Mosasaurus.

(I did not read the short story, so this is just based on the film) A very by the numbers kidnap thriller with a supernatural twist. Mason Thames gives a good performance but the other child actors are not on his level. Short, but still manages to drag in parts. Deals with heavy themes of child abuse (beyond the Grabber, Finney's father is a mean drunk) but is also kind goofy at times. Not terrible and doesn't feel cheap (good vintage production design), but it's not particularly good either. I would skip this one even if you are a horror fan.

Would have been better without the A24 treatment. Zola is a movie that never quite commits to one solid idea. It may have been better as a more straightforward retelling of "The Story" or leaning into being a cheeky meta commentary (Is Zola an unreliable narrator? Is she spicing things up, making herself look better?). Janicza Bravo can deliver energetic visuals. The performances in the movie are generally quite solid as well, although maybe a bit too reserved given the story. The worst thing about this movie is that is drags quite a bit in the middle and towards the end despite being only 84 mins, and chooses to end on a needlessly ambiguous note. Read A'ziah King's original twitter thread instead of watching this.

Back 4 Blood has some big shoes to fill being the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, comparisons are inevitable. Does B4B live up to the legacy of L4D? In some ways yes in some no. It's certainly a game with more depth, but less balance overall. B4B is ideally played with 3 other friends, hoping into a quickplay solo can give pretty mixed results and on higher difficulty settings it's essential to know at least part of your team. The good: Some stages (especially Jukebox Hero) are really fun and match the high of playing L4D. The graphics, voice acting and music, the Hag encounter music is one of the most anxiety inducing tracks ever, are well done. Some of the ridden are truly grotesque in a good way. Every Melee weapon has its own unique feel, a fire axe is weighty and huts precise a bat is light and swings wide. The mixed: Each cleaner is unique with differing abilities and the card system adds depth, but this comes at the expense of versatility, you can locked in to a certain playstyle depending on who and what you chose. If you are looking for a story, you will be disappointed, essentially the cleaners go from point A to point B and whatever else is there is easily missed, but L4D was similar. The bad: For a full priced game, B4B feels a bit anemic, and I wish I had waited for it to go on sale. The first DLC is already coming out and costs nearly half the price of the base game. Even after the initial patch the difficulty can be all over the place (hopefully this continues to improve). Weapons can be customized, but you can't move attachments from one to another, it feels wrong, but maybe this was purposely limited to keep players moving. Final verdict: If your were a big fan of Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood falls a bit short. B4B does have its moments though and It's worth the time if you can get your old crew back together. Wait for it to go on sale and maybe for a few more fixes. 3.75/5

Jedi Fallen order is worth playing if you are even a casual Star Wars fan who likes action games. As has been said before the game plays like a mix between Uncharted style platforming and exploration and Soulsborne inspired combat. The acting is overall pretty good even if the story is fairly predictable. The Boss battles are mainly disappointing usually just involving regular enemy types with a slightly bigger health bar or story based ones against Sith opponents usually ending after half of their health bar is depleted. The planets you explore are huge but there is no fast travel between save points. At least they could have the Mantis land on a different area of the map. Collectables are plenty but mosly cosmetic so I didn't feel I was missing out by not getting them all. Also I did experience quite a few glitches with textures popping in at the last minute and my game crashed at least twice. TL;DR: +Fun action gameplay +Good performances by the cast +Huge maps to explore - Boss battles are underwhelming - Glitchy - Collectables are only cosmetic Light 4 out 5