RobTortureWright Reviews

Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator (2024 Video Game)

An almost perfect Taxi Sim

[8/10 · 3 May 2024]

If I'm honest I'm stunned at some of the reviews of this game, on both PC's steam and consoles like the PS5. It has gotten very low ratings which I can only attribute to a buggy launch, however I've put in around 20 hours and I'm really enjoying every minute of it. It's a smooth relaxing game you can play while listening to a podcast or have some music on in the background. Perfect for after those sweaty PVP games or after grinding yet another tough platinum.

Firstly I played on PS5. I started playing after 2 patches had already been released so they may have fixed all of the big issues as I had an almost flawless experience. They also released another patch while I was playing only recently, but tbh I didn't notice any changes whatsoever to AI, mechanics or visuals. A good thing in my opinion. The developers plan to keep updating the game with new character models, taxi paints etc so that's a positive too.

The gameplay is very good, you're given a tutorial of the driving which takes place in a parking lot with a loan car to get the basics of driving, reversing, parking, signalling etc. A very solid start.

Once you begin you have a great sized map to explore, not a massive map but the perfect size to learn the routes and streets. It's also a very good looking map as you see the sights of Barcelona from the narrow streets right down to the beach and waterfront. Aside from driving to pick up regular passengers you can do other tasks such as speed challenges (I'll be honest I was horrible at these) collect graffiti and visit places of interest such as museums or historical buildings. This is great to mix things up so you can take a break from picking people up whenever you want.

I really love the progression in Taxi Life as you work towards getting progressively better cars and hiring new employees to make even more money. There's a lot to spend your money on in terms of cars but also customisation options. From tires, paint jobs, neons, interior colors, brakes, engines, even cool little bobble heads. Lots to choose from for sure.

Visually the game is good, not great. The map of Barcelona itself is beautifully recreated but smaller things like pedestrians are pretty poor and have horrible animations to them. The taxi visuals are superb though and having lots of camera angles to play with makes it really enjoyable. It also features fully working mirrors, something very few games have.

I honestly couldn't think of a better taxi game unless you spent millions adding features like walking around, owning an apartment and customising it etc but that's far beyond what any studio would do for a taxi game.

The one and only negative I have is the pedestrians. As I mentioned the character models are pretty bad but also their animations are pretty awful too. These models are meant as a way to slow you down because if you hit one of them its costly in terms of cash you need to pay out but also you lose any passenger you have regardless of how far you've travelled. They walk straight out in front of cars from the walkways which is fine, but will often just stop moving for a second or so, and even get to the other side then instantly start walking back across again. Very strange AI behaviour that can make you easily hit one of them but if you're driving normally you begin to learn their patterns and can avoid that.

Overall a superb Taxi Simulator that has great driving mechanics, a solid amount of customisation, a great progression system, a beautiful map of Barcelona and is a great laidback game to play, about as good as a taxi game can get in my opinion and well worth checking out as it's far cheaper than most games these days.

RoboCop: Rogue City (2023 Video Game)

A flawed but fun game.

[8/10 · 5 February 2024]

Despite the 15+ hours of fun I had, there are clear and obvious flaws with Robocop Rogue City, But from the previous work of this games development studio they've improved leaps and bounds.

I'll try and keep my review as short and concise as possible explaining everything you need to know if you're planning on getting the game, or if you want to know what someone who's beat the entire game feels about Robocop Rogue City. Let's start with story.

Story: 8/10. This is the games strong point. As someone who was born in the early 90's right in between Robocop 2 and 3, I can say I was brought up on Alex Murphy and his tin can. I remember watching at a much younger age than I should have been, but being truly amazed at such a unique and often startling world of Robocops Detroit. Rogue city takes place right in that sweet spot between movies and has all the usual cast of characters who play their part excellently. I especially enjoyed seeing Anne Lewis again in all her bubble popping glory. The main actors do a great job and Peter Weller even reprises his role as Alex Murphy which sounds great in game. I won't spoil any story points but I will say it does a really good job at keeping you immersed in its plot and egging Robocop on to get the bad guy.

Visuals: 5/10. Not great. A weird mashup of modern techniques like raytracing clash with what seems like ancient character models and outdated mechanics, which make a sometimes graphically off putting game. The game starts with an awful cutscene where one particular characters hair was waving about like he was free falling from an airplane, despite being inside a building. Not a good start at all. The worst thing without doubt is the characters mouth movement. It just looks like they should be speaking in a PS3/Xbox 360 game from nearly 20 years ago. The downtown city itself is decent looking especially at night with raytraced reflections in things like pools of water on the ground, but the overall look of the game during the day isn't as good. Cutscenes as mentioned can be jarring and off putting so if you're buying this to test the limits of what your PS5/Series X can do, then this really isn't the game for you.

Performance: 7/10. Solid enough. Weirdly on PS5 the game starts in fidelity/Quality mode, which is by far the worst mode. It feels slow and impacts gameplay because shooting and moving in 30FPS just isn't it in 2024. The performance mode however does a good enough job to try and maintain 60FPS. There are drops in the framerate for sure, especially in certain areas/sections but for the most part it's passable with no major issues.

Gameplay: 8/10. Really fun, slightly repetitive. Shooting is awesome, it feels fluid and responsive, you have a decent amount of guns to swap between, I especially like the mounted guns you can rip from their mount and blast fools away like you're Arnie. There is dashes, flashes and a few more abilities you have your disposal, but by far the best is the slow mo. It's not Max Payne good but come on, who doesn't love a bit of slo mo shooting in your games, it's just plain fun. The movement is limited as you would expect playing as Robocop but they make it just agile enough to where it doesn't feel too sluggish. The ability to put chips on your main gun is something that adds a little mini game which can be a nice distraction now and then. Skill points are gained each time you level up and are a very basic but welcome addition. Later on in the game the gunplay does feel slightly repetitive but picking up items like PC's, gas canisters and TV's to throw at your enemies mix it up enough. Still very enjoyable for the most part.

Overall: a mixed bag of a game with solid gameplay and entertaining storyline that is slightly let down by some questionable and outdated graphics, mediocre performance and can be limited in enjoyment depending if you're a Robocop fan or not. Far from perfect but a charming game that does just enough to keep you entertained throughout. 7/10.

Reacher: A Night at the Symphony (2023) Season 2, Episode 4

Catchphrase bonanza

[7/10 · 22 December 2023]

The show itself is still entertaining and the storyline although not as intriguing as the first season is still very fun to watch but WOW do they stomp over the same phrases constantly. "Do I ever tell you you're smart Neagley" "details matter" and "Just Reacher" have honestly been said about 10 times each.... And we're only in the 4th episode. It's sloppy and lazy writing and takes any charm out of each phrase when it's used for the hundredth time.

Reacher teaming up with his old squad mates has made an interesting dynamic but none of them are particularly likeable or real in depth characters. They spend more time talking about who likes who like it's an episode of friends.

The last fight was decently done and had some nice action shots and seeing reacher break some legs and faces is almost Infinitely enjoyable. That was honestly what saved this episode and I will admit I want to see how he gets revenge but anyone who rates this episode 10/10 seriously needs to start watching more TV shows because it's FAR from a masterpiece.

Remnant II (2023 Video Game)

Improved in some areas but frustrating in others.

[7/10 · 20 November 2023]

Remnant 2. This is tough one for me. I went in expecting a nice improvement over the first game, and while for most things this is true, in terms of certain aspects, I was left more frustrated than happy.

Sometimes going in with high expectations can cause disappointment, this wasn't the case with Remnant 2. I had heard online that because this game was made in Unreal Engine 5 there was certain performance issues, especially on console. I waited over 3 months before finally buying the game during a sale. I went in knowing very little about the game except for short sequences I had watched from people like Shroud the twitch streamer.

I began playing and was very impressed with the graphics. While they're not earth shattering, compared to the first game they are simply miles better. I visited the base and learned the location of each of the NPC's who offer things such as weapon mods, weapon upgrades, trinkets, consumables etc. It was especially good to see most of the characters return, even people who played smaller roles in the first game such as Brabus, someone you could have missed entirely in the first game. I chose my class or "archetype" and then I set off on my first mission into the world stone and loaded into my world. This is where the good... and bad revealed itself. Let's do something a bit different, start with the bad and move to the good.

The Bad: I loaded into Losomn, a beautiful palace area that is filled with many secret passages and angel like enemies. This is one of the few random worlds that I could have got, meaning someone else could have loaded into a completely different world when they started playing their game. This sounds good in theory, but in practise this is my main issue with Remnant.

You see my biggest issue with Remnant is actually one of its core mechanics, RNG. Both games employ randomly generated worlds, meaning you could play the entire campaign multiple times and still not experience or play through every section of the game. Now while this sounds good in theory and seems like it adds extra replay ability, what it also adds is frustration and drains so much of fun out of the game. Knowing there is a certain sequence of events in order to get a certain weapon/ring, or trophy/achievement and slowly realising that your particular "world" doesn't have that section of the map is extremely disappointing because you now have to make a choice, forget the trophy or item you were trying to get or "Reroll" the entire campaign/adventure, resetting your entire progress, in the hopes you get that particular map to spawn in. Rerolling means you then have to start from the very beginning of that world and retrace your steps all the way back in the hopes that this world contains what you're looking for. This means fighting the same enemies you've fought multiple times before and going through most of the map that you've already played, this is not my idea of fun. Maybe it's an accumulation of RNG frustration but I do feel like Remnant 2 is more egregious of this than the first game.

This particular mechanic is honestly a lesson in how much patience you have but more so, it pushes casual players away from wanting to attempt even the simplest of tasks that are off the beaten path, and boy is there SO much content hidden off the beaten path in Remnant 2. While the choice is yours if you want to reroll worlds and go for certain things, as an Achievement/trophy hunter, this is a real pain as it adds so many more hours of repetitive gameplay for little reward. I guess when playing Remnant you constantly have to weigh up if the juice is worth the squeeze.

I understand that one of the reasons Remnant employs these RNG elements into their game is to keep players engaged and playing their game for longer, but again, it pushes the casual players away and makes even players like myself who normally thrives in hunting down every trophy and finding secrets of a game very fatigued with the whole process. With every boot up of the game seeing how much I have to do and in a particular sequence, I become a little more fatigued each and every time. It sometimes felt like a slog to play when trying to accomplish certain things and that's something no one wants when playing a form of entertainment that is meant to be fun. The key example I could give for someone to look into is "the backrooms." this is more of an Easter egg than anything else and one of the more egregious examples but there are many collectible items in this zone, and in order to get to this area you have to complete an exhaustive list of things that all have a chance to not spawn in your particular world. This is so bad it almost puts me off wanting to play the game at times.

My last "Bad" point on Remnant 2 is the bosses. I feel like the first game done a far better job at structuring the layout of bosses, making better zones to fight them in and most importantly, just simply making better bosses. For example, in the first game the first boss I fought (after gorefist/shroud) was a gigantic dragon who spewed fire at me, had waves of fire root enemies and in a zone where walls could be destroyed by the dragons tail and or fireballs. This made for a truly great fight and a memorable one at that. Remnant 2's first boss was memorable but for all the wrong reasons. One of the first bosses I remember fighting was a giant orb that had zero mechanics to beat and was set in an arena where you spend 90% worrying about where you stood vs actually fighting the boss. There was nothing to learn, it was simply shoot the orb until it dies. The second boss I fought was faelin or the impostor as I remember it. A giant knight like enemy who had a sword... and swung it, that was it. It was in an open room with nothing in it so you could simply run around the room and shoot him from a distance, not great. As we go further into the game the bosses improve, both in their actual mechanics and in the arenas in which you fight them in. There is some that are more frustrating than fun like the giant cube but some are genuinely fun to figure out how to takedown so it's not all bad.

The Good: Now while most of this review has been me hating on RNG I want to talk about how fun the gameplay is for the most part. As someone who considers games such as The Division and the first 2 Gears of War's as some of the best games I've ever played, the movement mechanics and feel of Remnant really makes it some of the best gameplay around. While most people drool over FPS games, Third person has always been my favourite. The dodge rolls and evading takes practise and its so enjoyable because once you master the timing you're proud of yourself for learning and understanding the game more, this is of course something that constantly has to be relearned as you face different bosses with different attack patterns and attack delays.

The shooting feels crisp and weapons have their own unique style and substance to them. Then you factor in the MANY additions like weapon mods, weapon mutators, rings which enhance certain stats or add abilities, the new relics which can heal or add even more to your gameplay with bonuses/buffs, all this without mentioning the plethora of classes to chose from... and the fact you can now have two classes or "archetypes", there is so much to absolutely fall in love with the gameplay of Remnant.

The archetype I chose was Handler, a wonderful choice for solo players as you have a dog that comes with you wherever you go, that fights alongside you and even revives you if necessary. This is something that Remnant 2 does a lot better than the first game, making each class play and feel completely unique compared to the others. The addition of the dog is just such a cool thing and I seriously enjoyed the heck out of rolling into deep water with my trusty pet fighting along side me. Another great thing is the elemental options, while this was present in the first game I feel like they improved upon it here and offer guns that do specific element damage and also lots of rings that can be purchased right at the start that improve the damage/resistance to these elements. All of what I just said add up to this.... The gameplay is fun, really fun.

The UI is something that is vastly improved from the first game and the character screen in particular is especially beautiful to look at. The way they separated the armor to one side, the rings/amulet to the other and added the weapons to the bottom all while making the slots curve round your characters body just simply looks awesome. 5 stars for the layout and design. The addition to undo your previous upgrades on guns is a welcome bonus but I would have loved the option to sell guns we don't use, however I know this is something that isn't really doable considering the rarity of each weapon in relation to that RNG I hate so much.

The collectibles in Remnant 2 are plentiful and offer some real unique builds as a result, while I don't enjoy picking up these rings/amulets etc as much as the first game because at times they can fell a bit bland and most offered nothing new or better than what I already had equipped, however you can't beat choice and having them there was always a comfort knowing that if I wanted to change my build I could do so and have a strong set of items to boost my layout.

Overall: I feel like despite Remnant 2 improving upon many things such as the UI and graphics, the core game has suffered slightly as a result and at times felt out of balance compared to the well paced and quite frankly better first game. While Remant From the Ashes will remain as one of the best games I've played, Remnant 2 unfortunately just didn't do enough to make me fall in love with it and despite it being a really good game at times, it seems to lack that certain essence to make it special, or maybe I could find that essence if I just reroll the map one more time.....

The Out-Laws (2023)

Just ain't it.

[4/10 · 21 September 2023]

I was introduced to this film after watching Adam Devine on the Theo Von podcast. I'm normally a massive fan of his shows and films from workaholics to Game over man. However this just isn't it for me.

Adam talked this film up massively on the podcast hinting at things like it could be the next big comedy hit all while talking about classics like Superbad and The Hangover. I went in expecting this to be a great film based on what he said but after 20 minutes and looking at the 5.4 IMdB score I was checked out, Fully checked out. I switched the film off.

I only made it to the point where he met the in laws after singing some ridiculous and rather unfunny song. This was 20 minutes in at most. The fact they use words like "boink" shows that they are trying to appeal to a larger audience with much safer words and comedy. For me that makes it truly unfunny.

Comedy is about taking risks and saying things that are sometimes over the top and outrageous, Theo Von proves this perfectly. For me if this film was more like Game Over man and made rude jokes and had better acting and story then I might have watched it all the way through and maybe even enjoyed it.

Overall a "comedy" that I found utterly unfunny as it tries to appeal to the mass market but based on the review scores, the mass market hated it. Not for me, or anyone else it seems.

Days Gone (2019 Video Game)

A Truly Wild Ride

[9/10 · 7 July 2023]

It's July 7th 2023 and I've just finished Days Gone. Looking back on it, this is one of the most unique games I've played in my 31 years on this planet.

Never a smooth journey, it was full of wonder, excitement, awe and at times frustration and fatigue, but the journey was so special that I will remember this game for a long time to come.

I bought my PS5 only 2 months ago after being an "Xbot" since the PS2 days. I had so many games to catch up on. I had The Last of Us 1&2, God of war and Ragnarok, Horizon 1&2, both Spider-Man's etc, but I decided to jump into Days Gone first and I'm really glad I did.

To start the opening of Days Gone is without doubt its weakest point, in fact I would say it takes a good 25+ hours before you really get into the meat and bones of what this game is all about. I found my first 10 hours rather slow and methodical, the movement was restrictive and the gunplay even more so. You see the starter guns are simply horrific at shooting. Bullets whizz past your enemies despite the reticle being exactly on their head, while also combined with zombies or "freakers" moving like Neo in the matrix. That isn't a joke, even in slow-mo their head movement is better than prime Floyd mayweather. The story is also very slow after the initial cutscene. I often wonder how many gamers lost out on a wonderful experience and journey in Days Gone, simply because they couldn't get past the opening 8-10 hours.

After you get into the groove and the story really gets going, you find yourself coming to grips with everything the game has to offer. Firstly you upgrade you bike a little, then your guns, and maybe even a cheeky grenade or Molotov. Despite all this fun of clearing houses for loot and really enjoyable story missions, there is one thing that continually looms over you... fuel.

Days gone is an open world action game, but it also a survival game, and that means all the downfalls that come with surviving. In my opinion the fuel tanks at the start of the game were simply far too restrictive, especially for the average player. I'm super OCD and so throughout my entire playthrough I never ran out of fuel, but even myself I felt the overwhelming fatigue of having to stop every 5 minutes to go hunt for fuel. While playing the fuel is somewhat restricted, only fuel cans can be found that are hidden away at each major map point such as a Nero checkpoint or ambush camp. Later on you find fuel stations that you can ride up to the gas pump and refill all your fuel, but these again are sparsely spread out across the map. The silver lining to all this is that when you do eventually upgrade you bikes fuel tank, you begin to breathe a real sigh of relief each time as your tank gets bigger and bigger and you can travel much more distance in comfort. So ultimately you are rewarded for sticking with it and working towards being stronger and more prepared as Deacon.

Once you reach the Lost Lake camp this is where Days Gone reaches its peak. Boozer and his arm, can you trust Skizzo or not ? Is Iron Mike being too soft at the cost of his entire camps safety ? Will the Rippers come and wipe you all out ? This is prime story cutscenes and missions. I was fully immersed at this point and for a good 15-20 hours i could honestly see myself giving Days Gone a 9/10. It was close to perfection.

Shortly after the lost lake stories are wrapped up and you head south I began to get rather drained and just didn't feel up to clearing another 2 full areas and all the box ticking that it entailed. I felt like it was a step too far to add yet more areas to the map and drag it out for another 15-20 hours. As the time went by however I pushed on through, just as Deacon does throughout his entire journey. I will say the lower regions really sum Days gone up perfectly. A rather weird and bad start that progressively gets better and better climaxing in what is a wonderful and immersive ending that had me happy that I was there to enjoy it.

The sad thing is the secret ending mission leaves you with a cliffhanger about a game that we will most likely never see, as Sony has stated they won't be making Days Gone 2.

Overall Days Gone is one of the most unique games I've ever played, because it was truly a rollercoaster of emotions, from almost hating the game, to loving it, to being happy I was there for the journey. I also have to say that playing this game in 2023 on a Sony A95K TV and PS5, the graphics were utterly sensational. I couldn't believe this was a game from nearly half a decade earlier.

Days Gone gave me a truly memorable experience, both good and bad, but I wouldn't have changed a single second of it.

Succession: With Open Eyes (2023) Season 4, Episode 10

All things come to an end

[10/10 · 16 June 2023]

What a wild ride the Roy family has took us on. It's bittersweet for sure and the ending is more bitter than sweet, but just like the entirety of the show, it still made me smile through the drama.

I honestly couldn't imagine enjoying an ending where shiv, my most hated character, basically screws over the entire family and everything they have worked for, but here I am reflecting on what was a poetic ending that tells us exactly how the world of business is, cutthroat.

There isn't a happy ending here, but the writers done an excellent job at making us consider that possibility by finally having the siblings get along, supposedly agreeing to have Kendall be CEO. I just had a feeling that it would come down to shiv and she, in her pregnant, backstabbing ways would ruin the whole thing, and that's how it turned out.

I really felt for people like Roman, who just wanted to be loved instead of continually pushed aside like an afterthought or Kendall, who's entire world revolved around trying to live up to his father and show him and everyone else that he can be the man he thinks he is, but is constantly betrayed and belittled.

I was happy to see the little moment between Tom and Greg who honestly, carried the entire show at times with their perfectly timed comedic scenes that made me laugh every single time. At times it really was the Tom and Greg show.

Shiv grew from someone who was always determined at being number one to someone so consumed by it that she was willing to not only betray her entire family, but also her unborn baby by drinking and doing everything to push back against the world. A cheat and serial liar, I hated her with every fibre of my being. There are people like her in the real world and it's disgusting. Well done to the writers for showing us that dark, twisted, often truly evil side, not just in Shiv but in almost every character throughout the series.

In the end I think this somewhat emotionally conflicted ending makes Succession a truly unique show. It's offered me things I haven't experienced in any other show, from an actually funny bromance with Tom and Greg, to witnessing real evil with Shiv. Seeing a continuous mental rollercoaster with Kendall, to an exposing and sombre 1 hour long funeral episode. It's without doubt one of the most special shows in the last 10+ years and I'm really glad that I spent some of my time watching it.

Succession: DC (2019) Season 2, Episode 9

Laughed so much

[10/10 · 8 June 2023]

From Greg's constant panicking to the emails that Tom sent to Greg, to the absolute hilarious line "Full disclosure, I'm currently having a panic attack" I don't think I've laughed this much at a show that isn't a comedy.

Honestly I thought succession was going to be a hard nosed serious look at the shady business world, and while it definitely is that, it's comedy is some of the best I've ever heard. It's isn't necessarily the jokes themselves, it's a combination of the great acting, perfect writing and timing to insert the joke in a very precise moment. I have to say I've laughed more at this show than any other in recent memory and it was a totally unexpected but a welcome addition. This episode is both gritty and funny in equal measure and overall it's just the perfect watch.

It blends drama and laughs, serious but playfulness so brilliantly. This episode and the whole show is masterfully done.

Returnal (2021 Video Game)

Broken Co-op, Broken system.

[5/10 · 6 June 2023]

I had so many emotions while playing Returnal. From excitement and adrenaline to sheer boredom and finally overwhelming frustration that made me finally uninstall the game.

Returnal goes directly against everything I love about video games, primarily progression where you can see your character gain power/upgrades/outfits etc and grow from a weak level 1 to severely overpowered. Returnal does the opposite, instead it punishes you by resetting you back to zero every time you die. This can make the whole process extremely frustrating especially when each "Room" is generated at random and can hit you with 15+ enemies in the very first room and zero in the 20th room. However I eventually got into the process of how things worked after a few hours and at the very least it gives you some very small permanent things once you progress far enough. It's small things like you get to keep the melee unlocked or a grapple hook.

The problem I have and the main reason I uninstalled is the co-op. It's honestly one of the worst implementations of co-op I've ever seen. For starters if you join your friends game, you don't get story trophies. Playing through and beating 4 bosses and you have nothing to show for it is really disappointing. This means you then have to ask your friend to replay the whole thing over again on your "save". Totally pointless. More than this, if you progress far into your game "cycle" and then your friend comes online and invites you, you lose everything on your save. Suspending the cycle is an option but not in co-op, only single player. Again starting over from the beginning is not exactly fun.

I managed to battle though constant restarts when switching from co-op to single player and progressed all the way through 4 areas and 3 bosses. I got to a point where I was happy to challenge myself and move on to the 4th and 5th boss after beating both in co-op. I believed I had reached a point where the story had saved and I could continue from this point. However when starting it up I was reset right back to the start and would have to spend at least another 40 mins to an hour going back through the same rooms I've wasted countless hours playing again and again for no reason.

Even if you try and speed run all the the way back through you are actively punished for getting that far, because it simply takes so much longer to get back there. I honestly feel like most of my time playing this game was wasted. While I did have some good feelings like beating a boss with very little health left, or adrenaline kicking in when you're close to not making it but find a sneaky little health pickup, However most of the time I felt like I was Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, and not the happy part at the end, the middle where he's given up completely. Not recommended unless you have the patience of a saint and the willpower to continually bash your head against a wall over and over for not a lot of reward.

Louis C.K. at the Dolby (2023 TV Special)

Solid enough

[8/10 · 11 May 2023]

I always remember really enjoying Louis CK back in the 2013 days, and watching loads of his specials back then. Since his "cancellation" he obviously disappeared for awhile and this is my first time seeing him again outside of the Theo Von and the Shane Gillis podcasts.

The jokes are my kind of humour and a lot of them did make me laugh. The whole reading the bible part is wet close to being stolen from Ricky Gervais which if you know anything about comedians is a real NoNo.

For me Louis does comes across like the American Ricky Gervais and while I prefer and relate to Ricky's stand up more, Louis is still very funny and it's nice to see him back doing what he does best, well second best if his right hand has anything to say.

Overall a decently funny stand up set by a very good comedian that I really enjoyed watching.

Columbus (I) (2017)

Lost in Transition

[7/10 · 30 April 2023]

How I ended up watching Columbus is anything but ordinary.

I discovered the film through a YouTube video, Titled "The Art of doing nothing" from a channel I don't even subscribe to. It was a video about the "space inbetween." The overall topic was actually regarding video games and how the art of games such as Red Dead 2 capture those moments of silence and gaps in between action or excitement, and that gap is where the real story truly is. In essence, the gap is the journey, not the destination, and it's the journey that really counts.

The person who made the video talked about his favoroute films being Columbus, Lost in Translation and the "Before" series and that immediately resonated with me.

Lost in translation is one of my favourite films. It's a story that thrives in subtlety and nuance, that offers an almost psychedelic calmness and breeze like quality that very few films can pull off. I fell in love with the Before series also for similar qualities, and when he mentioned a film called Columbus, I decided to watch it for myself.

Columbus is film that spoke to me as soon as I started watching. I could see the similarities between it and Lost In translation, but It tries to do the smaller things in its own unique style.

It's a film that is visually beautiful. Most of this comes from the actual scenery and buildings that are being shot, but some of it is just plain old good camera work and framing. It obviously uses the city to explore the characters and how they end up meeting and bonding, which is also a very nice storyline.

The acting is great, nothing truly oscar worthy but performances that fit their characters extremely well.

The story for what it was is subtle, normally that would appeal to me, but I couldn't help but feel there was just something missing. I can't even explain what that thing was because it's not something I even consciously know, but sometimes you just connect with a film on a different level, and I just couldn't get there. On a different day, with a different mind-frame, maybe.

At times the film tries to "explore the unexplored". What I mean by this is it tends to show some scenes that would fall In-between a normal films story. A lot of these scenes would either never be shot in the first place or discarded in a conventional film. This does make Columbus quite a unique and at times satisfying watch, but some transitions tend to be quite jarring, where the main context or more punchy scenes are skipped, but more so it feels like multiple "main" scenes are skipped in a row. For example In one scene towards the end where Jin and Casey have a talk at the front of her car and then break into her old school, we see them walking down the hallway, then without any subtlety it jumps to Jin waking up with Casey sleeping nearby. While a lot of films tend to leave things up to the imagination, this for me leaves too much room to imagine, it appears to have just skipped a large portion of what could have been important and captivating dialogue and emotions, through not only one scene, but what feels like multiple. Intentional or not, I didn't enjoy the few times where this happened.

Columbus is a film that appeals to a niche audience, and at times, at least in my opinion, gets ever so slightly off track with what it's trying to reveal, and what it's trying to leave behind. Its a film that I wanted to love and to see myself remembering alongside Lost in Translation, but where that film felt incredibly powerful in its subtlety, Columbus feels at times subtle but never that powerful. The main characters just didn't speak to me on the same level, but for a lot of people out there I believe it could absolutely resonate.

Overall Columbus is a unique and often visually beautiful film that is best watched when your mind is at peace and you're ready to rest on the quieter waves for awhile.

Jury Duty (2023– )

Hilarious and Unique

[9/10 · 16 April 2023]

Firstly let me say, the other review with the headline "American only" was almost definitely written by James Marsden haha.

As for the show I didn't know what to think going in, I had seen a random tweet that either was paid marketing or just lots of people agreeing with the original post, because there was no negatives about the show in almost 50 replies. That peeked my curiosity and I decided to give it a chance. I think the fact it can be viewed for free makes it more approachable as the premise didn't fully draw me in.

I watched the first episode and spent most of the time trying to decide if the "real person" was actually in on it as well, but he would have to be a REAL good actor to pull off what happens in the remaining episodes. Episode 2 didn't really hook me fully to be honest and I wasn't sure if it was something that could keep my attention. I'm glad I came back for episode 3.

The show begins to ramp up the ridiculousness each episode so that by episode 6 (where I've currently watched to) you spend most of the time just laughing at how the real person (Ronald) is just going along with all the craziness and weirdness. From a guy toppling over a full cabinet and getting medically removed, to a weird guy who wears crutches as a seat, to what is probably one of the most bizarre and funniest parts, a man and woman wanting to "have a good time" but instead of thrusting they want someone to jump up and down in the bed.

At that point I'm thinking to myself, how does Ronald (The only one who's not an actor) believe this is actually real, but I think the fact it's his first jury duty and he is kind of venturing into the unknown is just comical how he accepts everything without really questing it too much.

For me episodes 4,5 and 6 have been hilarious, from the bed bouncers, to James marsden throwing a temper tantrum because he didn't get a movie role, to the Asian man saying he will give Ronald $2000 because he lost a board game. I'm eagerly awaiting the final 2 episodes and I hope they spend enough time letting Ronald talk after he finds out it was all staged. I'm also really intrigued to see how the show continues if there is a second or third season as i think this has already became super popular among the TikTok crowd, and it's becoming more and more popular each day on Freeve/Amazon prime.

Overall I understand the reviews on IMdB are mixed but I think had a lot of the people giving it a low score watched more of the show and especially made it to episode 3 and beyond I think they would have really enjoyed the comedy and sheer craziness of it all. I think in its own way it's also kind of charming seeing this random guy helping the other people around him and trying to bring certain people out of their shell, even if he's about to find out they've all being acting this entire time. Totally unique and well worth watching. 9/10.

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Emotional but simply too Long

[7/10 · 23 March 2023]

A Man called Otto is a very emotional and engaging film that sadly begins to lose its appeal over its 2 hour run time.

The first 40 minutes are really entertaining and captivating as we see how Otto is completely destroyed by the passing of his wife and has decided to take his own life. We see flashbacks, but not the boring "get on with it" kind. The kind that explains the emotions of Otto and how his life with his wife was one he dreamed of, that sadly fell apart into sadness and emptiness without her. We see how Otto is super grumpy and mad at everyone around him for being stupid and not following the rules he set for his neighbourhood. Otto like a lot of people is broken down by the pain of life and how things happen to us that is outside our control. He can't join the army because he has an enlarged heart, he doesn't get the chance to raise a child because it's killed after a bus crash. Ottos life has slowly fell apart and so he begins to contemplate ending it. He tries to take his life no fewer than 4 times but is interrupted each time. To me once or twice would have made the point clear that it simply wasn't going to happen but like most things with this film they just added a little too much to the pot.

After this point I expected the next 40 minutes to see how Otto comes out of his shell and begins to live again, unfortunately that gets somewhat sidetracked until almost the end of the film and the middle of the film just seems to meander around for too long without really showing much or adding to the story.

Also the film finds itself not knowing what it wants to represent. On one hand you have what practically every single film thats released these days has, a homage to the LGBTQ community. In this case by inserting a trans person into the narrative and showing how Otto interacts with them showing nothing but kindness. The persons father is apparently mean and not accepting of them so they stay at Otto's house and he's super kind and accepting. However towards the end of the film you have Otto mocking a man because he likes the colour pink. The two simply cannot go hand in hand. Protecting one group of people while openly mocking another is very hypocritical.

The final third of the film seems to try and be emotional just for the sake of it rather than naturally letting the story make you feel emotional, it all felt too forced for my liking, alongside being a very predictable ending.

Overall a film that had me saying this is a going to be a 9/10 film in the first 40 minutes but sadly it didn't keep up the pace, story or emotion in the next hour and a half. In the end although I enjoyed A Man Called Otto I felt like it somewhat wasted the potential it had to be a really great film by simply running too long and trying to force emotions at the end. 7/10.

Black Bird (2022)

Deeply Unsettling

[10/10 · 11 March 2023]

One of the best but most disturbing shows I've seen in several years. To think this actually happened to these innocent girls is really sad but the way it's portrayed on screen is honestly fascinating.

Episode1 sets the scene brilliantly when we're introduced to Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton). We see Jimmy's playboy life of selling drugs, sleeping with random women and owning enough guns to take on an army fall apart when he's arrested by the DEA. He accepts a plea deal but gets 10 years instead of 4 like he thought. He's offered a deal to snitch on a prisoner Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) and after his father has a stroke he accepts the deal. We get to see Larry Hall be interviewed and wow is he creepy. Paul Walter Hauser does an absolutely incredible job of acting like the unhinged child killer Larry. I mean throughout all 6 episodes this guy made me truly feel like he was Larry. His acting can't be talked about enough and he will undoubtedly go on to be one the best acting talents in the business. We see detectives torn about Larry as some of them brand him a "Serial Confessor" while one detective in particular Brian Millar (Greg Kinnear) really does think he killed all these girls and sticks on the case.

Episode 2 takes us back as we see Larry be interviewed by the FBI after great detective work finally makes him confess to killing one of the girls. Jimmy's emotions when finally heading towards the maximum security prison was outstanding and it was acted superbly, the anxiety and crazy emotions anyone would feel in this situation really shows. Larry has an appeal granted and we get to see this added drama of Jimmy unknowingly have to illicit a confession before it's too late and Larry walks free.

Episode 3 we see Jimmy make his move to befriend Larry while also being introduced to a mob boss within the jail who wants to speak to him. Jimmy gets threatened by a corrupt guard who torments him to get money for him making his life even more a misery inside this prison. One of the most disturbing scene of ANY show happens here as Larry talks to Jimmy about sex and how he's never been with a girl who was "wet" and how he didn't care about how girls felt and he would just "jam it in". Absolutely horrifying scene but my oh my was it acted perfectly portraying not only Larry's wild stories of assault but also Jimmy's contained disgust and dismay.

Episode 4 for me was a lesser episode, certainly still full of enjoying scenes but it almost takes a backseat and honestly if most of this episode wasn't included then it wouldn't make a big difference to the overall story, not entirely filler but close enough. The graveyard scenes obviously do tell more about Larry's backstory and Jimmy's past is also told via flashbacks. The episode does make you understand the process Jimmy took and the kind of things discussed but not a lot more than that.

Episode 5 contains yet another absolutely haunting scene as Larry discuses in detail what he done to a young girl and it's really disturbing. The belt and stick part and how she cried for her mother. Really messed up. The corrupt guard begins telling everyone Jimmy is a snitch which leaves it perfectly set going into the final episode.

The final episode: a masterclass of a finale that ramps up the tension and keeps it there throughout. The constant anxious feeling you get as Jimmy is in solitary and has no way of reaching out to tell authorities about the map Larry drew of the bodies. Larry loses it completely in this episode and again just simply some of the best acting you'll ever see from the actor portraying him. The ending is a happy but sombre one as Larry will never get out of prison but none of the bodies have been found.

Overall one of the best shows I've ever seen which tells the brutal and shocking story of the deranged and psychotic Larry Hall but more importantly the hard work and determination of James Keene to help insure the child killer is never released from prison. The acting is beyond great and this is one of the final works that Ray Liotta filmed before passing away. I would highly recommend watching this because it truly is special in so many ways.

The Whale (2022)

God and Pizza

[8/10 · 22 February 2023]

The whale was ever so slightly underwhelming to me. Don't get me wrong this is an excellent film, very well written for the most part, acted superbly, and has characters who are not only believable but also likeable/loavable. However I went in with high expectations of this film, mainly hearing how it was going to win lots of awards but more than that the plotline really intrigued me. This is my issue more than The Whales issue because getting over excited about a film only leads to being let down and I just felt there was a little something missing from making this one of the best films I've seen.

The first third of the film plays out exactly like I expected, we are introduced to our setting (Charlies home) where we spend the entire film, with only brief glances outside. I particularly like this because we as the audience get to see exactly what he saw. This is made evident when the camera pans past the darkened window as people leave and arrive at his apartment. We see the excellent Brendan Fraser taking on the role of a morbidly obese man and without doubt it's one of the best performances from any actor you'll ever see.

The emotions he shows, the expressions he portrays even with this massive bodysuit surrounding him is profound and it's quite an adjustment to try to understand how someone like this lives, or should I say survives on a daily basis.

Next we get introduced to his friend, a nurse who happens to be his deceased lovers sister. We see his aggressive and somewhat broken daughter, and more importantly a young man who claims to be offering help through religion. This is where the film begins to veer off track to what the main story is about and begin to explore what god means or doesn't mean to the characters. At first this boy seems to only want to help Charlie but as we see, and this is almost always true for every person, he has an ulterior motive behind helping. The film then starts to explore homosexuality and how that relates to god and heaven, with a particular scene near the end where charlie argues with the boy about thinking he wouldn't get into heaven if he was gay. This subject is something that is deeply divisive and everybody will have their own opinions on that matter but to roll out this storyline throughout did seem like The Whale was forgetting what the main plot point was. The daughter takes a back seat for awhile and Charlie's weight is nudged aside for a brief moment to look at this issue and for me this just wasn't as cohesive or as blended in to the overall story as I would have liked. It felt like the two stories were always contrasting with each other rather than working in harmony, a bit like two magnets trying to join but ending up in opposite directions. It does seem like the past 5 or so years almost every film tries to make a point or advocate on a certain topic, when almost always the best course of action is to simply tell the raw story, no side tales of oppression or dictation about how we should live our lives.

Throughout the rest of film the reactions from people to seeing Charlie was a eye opening experience, and those of who he was close to were able to look past it, where as others like the pizza delivery man, or some of the students were shocked and somewhat disgusted by his appearance and condition.

The Whale is a very grounded in reality film but the ending almost opposes that completely as we see Charlie basically get lifted into heaven. A somewhat strange but "happy" end to what was a rather stark and bare look at how someone of excessive weight lives.

Overall a direct and poignant film that invokes certain emotions, if however not as strongly as I expected and a story that does sometimes get lost in the weeds when tackling subjects like God and homosexuality, however The Whale does come back around to finish on what the film was always meant to be about, A morbidly obese father trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. If nothing else it's worth watching just to see a truly special performance by Brendan Fraser, who has dealt with his own share of obstacles and challenges but returns in truly great form.

Plane (2023)

Good old Butler fun

[7/10 · 13 February 2023]

This is your typical Gerald Butler film. Action, thrills and lots of bad guys getting shot. However this does a better job than his last few films at holding my attention and making me intrigued about what was going to happen.

The story is an engaging one and holds its believability for the most part. Plane lands on hostile island with the plan being to survive until rescue comes, simple but suspenseful plot. The addition of a prisoner on the plane who is in handcuffs with an escort gives it that little extra twist but doesn't go overboard in it's ridiculousness, it stays somewhat grounded in reality thankfully.

The acting was very good here and the passengers and crew were very lively on screen. Butler is obviously the standout actor but the prisoner does a great job. The Jason statham with no fighting skills guy done a decent job whenever he was on screen also.

There were 3 little things that took me out of the immersion slightly: 1. The airport guy already had a team of highly trained private military contractors ready to go before they even found out where the plane was, bit odd.

2. The fact that you would send this team in a plane with 500 grand in a bag just seems weird to me and not believable.

3. The fact that an team of mercenaries would land on this island without any form of exfiltration again just isn't believable.

Overall Plane is a simple film that managed to keep my attention for the whole 1 hour 47 minutes and told a better story than any of Gerald Butler films in the last few years. A casual watch but a fun one.

Dead Space (2023 Video Game)

A Horror Masterpiece.

[9/10 · 6 February 2023]

Let me start by saying, I hate horror movies... and I hate horror games. The thought of having to play yet another Resident Evil game makes me feel sick. To me those games (atleast the ones I've played) should be labelled Anxiety games rather than horror. You spend the entire game "Killing" the main villain just for them to reappear 1 minute later and then you repeat that seemingly never ending cycle. In these games you spend more time frantically running around quickly trying to loot everything (and failing to collect absolutely everything) before the bad guy magically returns. No fear just panic and anxiety, these games just aren't for me. I've tried other not so mainstream horror games and still found them not scary in the least and just plain boring to play.

I remembered playing the original Dead Space in 2008 as a spotty 15 year old who spent way too much time on his Xbox and although I enjoyed the game I never returned to it because I was more about PvP in games like Gears of War or going for 100% in GTA IV. The game got lost in my collection until this remake. I debated a while and eventually decided to buy a key for the deluxe edition of Dead Space, and wow was I blown away with everything the game had to offer.

To start the graphics are simply amazing. It must be incredibly hard to make graphics stand out in a game that spends most of its time in almost complete darkness but Dead Space really pulls it off. From stunning sparks that pop out of malfunctioning ship parts, to the faint glow of lights that shine through the foggy hallways and rooms. Issac's heavily detailed suit also really stands out. To me the graphics are 10/10. There is two modes on consoles, performance which offers 60FPS at slightly below 4K quality and a "Quality" mode which is capped at 30FPS and offers 4K with certain Ray tracing effects turned on. I initially started the game in Quality mode but at the end of chapter 2 turned on Performance mode and found the 60FPS to be more fluid and just an overall better way to play the game without too much sacrificed in the graphics department.

The gameplay is some of the best and most captivating I've ever played, with the fear of what is around every corner and real hesitation about making sure you're prepared for the next fight with the "necromorphs." The upgrade system is really detailed and it's all about placing the correct nodes into your suit or weapon to ensure you stand the best chance at survival. I went for a full Plasma Cutter run and fully upgraded it along with stacking the rest of the nodes into my suit. Even on medium I found some very tricky parts later on and there was far more than a handful of times where I was down to red health and scrambling for my life. The stasis ability is great for slowing enemies down and also plays a part in slowing machinery down or even doors which allow you to pass. The kinesis allows you to move objects and obstacles in your way but more importantly it allows you pick up objects and launch them at your enemies meaning you can pin them or even rip dangling limbs from their bodies and use that as a weapon the throw back at them. A fantastic and well thought out ability system for sure. What I love is that I am already planning another run in New Game plus to return the USG Ishimura and take on the challenge again at a higher difficulty, maybe impossible mode but I'm pretty scared about that challenge haha. I couldn't tell you a game in recent memory where I've actually wanted to go back and play it again, normally I'm a one and done guy who does everything in one run then moves on to another game. With Dead Space that's simply not possible so it keeps me intrigued about retuning.

The story itself has a fascinating backstory and for me personally its a perfect plot for a horror game. The whole "humans return from the dead as monsters and try to kill other humans" story is something that's been used more than I've had hot meals, but the spin here is Dead Space tells the tale of a futuristic planet cracking ship that has become ravaged by these beings and now you have to fight them in an incredibly tight, claustrophobic area, all while trying to repair the ship one step at a time and somehow find a way to survive.

Overall one of, if not THE only horror game that I can say I truly enjoy. I love everything about it from its gameplay, it's story, it's mechanics, it's lore, it's atmosphere and it's characters. It's a really tense and often quite scary game that honestly had me hooked from minute one all the way through to its end. I Highly recommend Dead Space.

The Last of Us: When You're Lost in the Darkness (2023) Season 1, Episode 1

You've seen this before (A lot)

[6/10 · 16 January 2023]

The last of us comes at a time where the zombie genre has well and truly been flooded with every imaginable scenario you could possibly think of. This means that while this show is far from bad it simply doesn't add anything new, in fact, it's just different actors acting out the same thing you've seen for years or even decades at this point.

The best way to describe the first episode and in particular the first 30-40 minutes is like the TV version of the Gerald butler film Greenland. It's the most recent comparison I could make and it plays out exactly the same, World is fine one minute then all hell breaks loose the next. If we were to look at this realistically, a virus would simply take longer to unfold on the world, not simply 1 minute fine next minute everybody is dying and looting and losing their minds. Of course as a person living in 2023 we all know too well how a virus unfolds on the world. This instant madness take's away the believability but let's be honest, it's a show about zombies so how believable can you really get ?

The rest of the first episode plays out just like the premiere of The Walking Dead with writing on the walls in blood, a decaying world and seeing how the "survivors" are finding ways to cope in this new world. This is all quite fine but FAR from special or unique. All of the dialogue is generic, although acted quite well.

My attention span drifted quite a lot throughout the first episode, however it was held just enough to keep me watching till the end to see what the writers could try and do to make me continue the journey. 1 hour 20 minutes did drag in a little with the middle portion being very slow but you have to allow this as it's the first episode and it's trying to set the scene.

Helping a random girl get to where she's going in world of complete ruin makes you lose all believability but again, please leave your brain at the door. The woman talking about Ellie and saying her purpose is greater than she could know then handing her off literally 5 minutes later is quite lousy writing. Lyanna Mormont from Game of thrones suited the actress Bella Ramsey better, but that's just my opinion. She does however do her best as Ellie and to be honest I don't see many other actresses portraying the role as well.

The bond that starts between Joel and Ellie is the glimmering light that many fans of the games and new viewers will hold on to, as this really is what the The Last of Us is about, a connection between two people. This is the one thing that's unique about the show and it's something the writers have to indulge in as often as they can to keep this show feeling fresh and watchable.

The first episode ends on a bit of whim with Joel and Ellie making their way forward, to where we don't know yet, but a screech is let out and roll credits, meh. Not awful, not great, but we move on to episode 2 with atleast a little bit of intrigue.

Overall I think this show will be moderately successful, for how long is completely determined on how the writers take a completely generic idea and try to make it feel fresh, and how they can try to make Joel and Ellie's connection hold the audiences attention for more than a few episodes or just 1 season.

For me it's a show that offers nothing new, I've seen it before and I've seen it often. I could tell you how the rest of the season will unfold almost play for play, but for people who are going in for the first time having not seen as much as me, People who haven't watched dozens of zombie films from the late 90's and 00's and Haven't seen tv shows like The Walking Dead, then maybe, just maybe they will enjoy this moderately. I don't think it's ever going to take over the world like a Game of thrones or Breaking bad, but if you like the look of it then stop reading this and go watch it.

The Last of Us (2023– )

You've seen this before (A lot)

[6/10 · 16 January 2023]

The last of us comes at a time where the zombie genre has well and truly been flooded with every imaginable scenario you could possibly think of. This means that while this show is far from bad it simply doesn't add anything new, in fact, it's just different actors acting out the same thing you've seen for years or even decades at this point.

The best way to describe the first episode and in particular the first 30-40 minutes is like the TV version of the Gerald butler film Greenland. It's the most recent comparison I could make and it plays out exactly the same, World is fine one minute then all hell breaks loose the next. If we were to look at this realistically, a virus would simply take longer to unfold on the world, not simply 1 minute fine next minute everybody is dying and looting and losing their minds. Of course as a person living in 2023 we all know too well how a virus unfolds on the world. This instant madness take's away the believability but let's be honest, it's a show about zombies so how believable can you really get ?

The rest of the first episode plays out just like the premiere of The Walking Dead with writing on the walls in blood, a decaying world and seeing how the "survivors" are finding ways to cope in this new world. This is all quite fine but FAR from special or unique. All of the dialogue is generic, although acted quite well.

My attention span drifted quite a lot throughout the first episode, however it was held just enough to keep me watching till the end to see what the writers could try and do to make me continue the journey. 1 hour 20 minutes did drag in a little with the middle portion being very slow but you have to allow this as it's the first episode and it's trying to set the scene.

Helping a random girl get to where she's going in world of complete ruin makes you lose all believability but again, please leave your brain at the door. The woman talking about Ellie and saying her purpose is greater than she could know then handing her off literally 5 minutes later is quite lousy writing. Lyanna Mormont from Game of thrones suited the actress Bella Ramsey better, but that's just my opinion. She does however do her best as Ellie and to be honest I don't see many other actresses portraying the role as well.

The bond that starts between Joel and Ellie is the glimmering light that many fans of the games and new viewers will hold on to, as this really is what the The Last of Us is about, a connection between two people. This is the one thing that's unique about the show and it's something the writers have to indulge in as often as they can to keep this show feeling fresh and watchable.

The first episode ends on a bit of whim with Joel and Ellie making their way forward, to where we don't know yet, but a screech is let out and roll credits, meh. Not awful, not great, but we move on to episode 2 with atleast a little bit of intrigue.

Overall I think this show will be moderately successful, for how long is completely determined on how the writers take a completely generic idea and try to make it feel fresh, and how they can try to make Joel and Ellie's connection hold the audiences attention for more than a few episodes or just 1 season.

For me it's a show that is nothing new, I've seen it done before and I've seen it often. I could tell you how the rest of the season will unfold almost play for play, but for people who are going in for the first time having not seen as much as me, People who haven't watched dozens of zombie films from the late 90's and 00's and Having not seen tv shows like The Walking Dead, then maybe, just maybe they will enjoy this moderately. I don't think it's ever going to take over the world like a Game of thrones or Breaking bad, but if you like the look of it then stop reading this and go watch it.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Subtle Greatness

[9/10 · 17 December 2022]

The banshees of Inisherin is testament to how an excellent writer can take even the most basic of ideas and turn it into a full and entertaining 2 hour film. The idea of 2 men falling out doesn't exactly scream excitement and thrilling but the excellent storywriting and the characters managed to keep me thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

However it's a tale about much more than two men who have a falling out. It clearly marks the importance of friendship, dealing with loneliness and depression, the impending loom of death and the use of comedy to ease the tougher moments in life. The writer deals with incredibly dark topics like a Father abusing his son, a war that's literally on your doorstep, Suicide, and losing the people you love the most. It deals with these matters eloquently and leaves nothing to the imagination, it clearly shows you a simple man's life and the things that happen each step of the way that cause pain, suffering and confusion.

It manages to weave the perfect blend of sadness and comedy into the story that keeps you watching eagerly and always wanting to see which path it takes next. I simply loved each of the characters quirks and behaviour and you can just imagine that a little island somewhere in Ireland still has people just like it to this day.

"It takes two to tango" "I don't want to tango" "Well you danced with your dog" A line that is hardly a stand up comedy zinger but I couldn't help but laugh out loud at Colin Farrells perfect delivery of the last line. This sums up The Banshees perfectly. It's subtle humour and thoroughly thought provoking moments leave an impact on anyone who takes the time to sit down and really focus on the film, and it's a excellently written, directed and acted movie that contained every kind of emotion making it one of the best films I've seen all year.

"Yeah maybe there are banshees, I just don't think that they scream to portend death anymore. I think they just sit back, amused and observe"

Need for Speed Unbound (2022 Video Game)

Horrifically Bad.

[2/10 · 9 December 2022]

I have been gaming for as long as I can remember. I've played 1000's of games and genuinely, and I mean this wholeheartedly, this is one of the worst games I've ever had the displeasure of playing.

I could spend a full day explaining everything wrong with this game but I'll try and keep it as short and sweet as I can:

Gameplay: The gameplay is simply horrific. Some of the worst feeling cars in Need for speed history and racing games in general. Arcadey doesn't even begin to explain the driving mechanics. Slidey, non responsive cars that can't even brake and steer at the same time. You press brake and try to steer left or right but it takes the car about 2-3 seconds of braking in a straight line to finally begin steering and then you get massive oversteer swinging you into a wild drift, out of control all together or into a barrier. Trying all 3 starter cars, Changing settings such as traction control on/off or steering settings doesn't help whatsoever. Again one of the worst feeling Need for Speed games ever.

Story: it's insulting to even use the word Story to describe this horrifying mash of cringey, over the top and ear bleedingly bad writing. The characters are of legal driving age but act like 10 year olds who high five when they do cool tricks on their skateboards. At several points they actually high five, im being serious. They also talk like 10 year old kids who exclusively watch twitch. At one point the garage owner describes a car like this: "she sounds pretty, smells nice too" while sniffing and smiling. I genuinely thought it was going to cut to an X-rated scene of him having intercourse with the car exhaust. The reason I gave this game a 2/10 and not a 1 is because I genuinely laughed when I remembered that while listening to the dialogue I physically gritted my teeth in utter cringe at what was being said. I tried to find the most insulting thing to describe the writing and characters and I think it would be this: Need for speeds writing make Saints Rows characters look and sound like the greatest, most interesting and intelligent scholars of our time. The writing is horrifyingly cringey. Close your ears and look away.

Graphics: At best PS4 year one level graphics. I Played on a PS5 and my god does it look so bland. Even with their wild attempt at combining "realistic" looking cars with cartoon anime characters and effects it still looks so mediocre and goofy as hell. I can just picture the team sitting round a table trying to think what gamers like and one guy shouting "they all love anime" and they decided to roll with that idea till the cows came home. Style wise just as cringe as the writing, and so out of place to combine realistic graphics with cartoon people. Awful.

Overall I would't recommend this game to my worst enemy, normally I would say if you like something that others don't, then good for you and keep enjoying it, but if you like this dumpster fire of a game, then you seriously need to reevaluate your gaming library. Stay FAR away from Need for Speed, do not buy full price, do not buy when it's on sale. I wouldn't play this game if they paid me to do so. Every day I wake up I will do so with a smile on my face knowing I never need to play this game again.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022 Video Game)

Solid Story, Poor DLC's

[8/10 · 25 November 2022]

Despite what I heard before diving in, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Tiny Tina's wonderlands. Despite some obvious flaws it manages to improve on certain aspects of The Borderlands series and lays out a solid campaign that keeps you entertained throughout. That is until you hit the DLC's.

Loading up the game for the first time I went in with pretty low expectations after hearing some bad reviews, for example I heard the overall game was totally woke (I mean what isn't these days) and it wasn't funny whatsoever, but I honestly found less agenda pushing than I thought and I have to admit I did laugh more than I expected.

Now while the humour isn't up there with the likes of Borderlands 2 it definitely holds its own and although some of the jokes didn't land whatsoever, others were genuinely laugh out loud, atleast for me. Tina is exceptionally funny as always and it's very refreshing to jump into a more well rounded version of the Dragon keep DLC from Borderlands 2.

The voice acting is superb and having people like Andy Samberg who knows how to deliver his lines perfectly really improves the overall feel and atmosphere of the game.

When it comes to music... there isn't any. I watched a few reviews on YouTube with one saying the very faint theme music that plays sounded like a cat being strangled by a violin. While I wouldn't go that far it does sound a little peculiar and apart from that there isn't any music to set the tone of certain maps or characters which is a shame. However the positive is you can play music in the background while thoroughly enjoying the gameplay.

The gameplay and core mechanics are exceptionally good. Having just finished yet another playthrough of borderlands 2 about three months ago with a friend, I noticed so many improvements, some little, some big, but all helping the game feel more well rounded and thought out. For example the fast travel really feels like an actual fast travel now. At any point you can open a portal and return to the "overworld" or to your base at brighthoof and then once you've done whatever you need to, you can jump straight back where you left off, right down to the exact inch of where you were standing. It's fantastic and simple but it's a massive improvement over having to run all the way back through an entire map to get to a fast travel station, travelling out and then having to run all the way through the map again once you return. Time saving is always appreciated for someone who plays games for a living.

The overworld is the new addition also where you navigate from a top down perspective a small version of your character on a board just like a tabletop game. It's a nice little feature that adds something new and keeps it fresh throughout your playthrough as you collect dice, shrine pieces and take on encampments of enemies to get better loot.

The levelling system and progression is as always superb. This is the main reason I play games like borderlands, the division, and almost any other looter shooters I can get my hands on. Good progression in a game is such a rarity these days with games like Forza giving you Lamborghinis at the start of the game, here here in Tiny Tinas it's a slow but constant building towards an over powered badass who is (almost) impossible to kill. You start by getting more loot than ever before but you have to pick and chose because some of it is just simply scrap for extra coins and some weapons, spells and wards can last you 5+ levels. The grind isn't really much of a grind at all when you always feel like you're improving your character and making them stronger with each passing hour. That's why I love looter shooters so much.

While the main story is very good and side missions feel better than ever, the end game just isn't as good in my opinion. It's a repetitive slog of running through chaos chambers time after time trying to improve your chaos level and hoping to find some better gear along the way. While this is fun at first it does wain after around 5 hours and you tend to simply play the game less at this point.

DLC's: Well I have to say I completely understand the outrage on this. People paid full price for a season pass or bought a very expensive edition of the game only to be hit with 4 pitiful excuses for added content.

Some are 1 hour tops, some are 10 minutes of gameplay with extra legendary weapons or items added. Now while I do understand this game was developed at a time where people were having to work from home and that does bring certain struggles and issues, it's simply unacceptable to call these things DLC's. Having played some of the best DLC's ever in the Borderlands series it's a real shame to be let down by gearbox on this. The only positive for myself is that during Black Friday I managed to get the chaotic great edition of the game with included season pass for £35 ($40) less than half the price of the game when it was released. If I had paid full price for the season pass then I would be much more upset so I can completely understand the backlash on this topic.

Overall a game that will definitely keep borderlands fans happy and although there is lots of improvements and adjustments that make the experience feel more well rounded than ever, it's slightly let down by very poor DLC's and a somewhat repetitive end game, however it's still absolutely worth playing and even if you don't laugh at the story or don't like the characters the gameplay itself will keep you thoroughly entertained.

Bullet Train (2022)

The wish version of a Guy Richie film

[5/10 · 1 November 2022]

Imagine for a moment the amazing 'Lock stock and two smoking barrels'... now imagine the hilarious Snatch... now picture a film that is nowhere near as good. This is Bullet train.

Bullet train is a film made up of over the top characters in an over the top story but I still found myself quite underwhelmed. The film starts with a introduction to Brad Pitt's character "ladybug" who believes he's unlucky, however unsurprisingly he just happens to be super lucky. Bland.

We are introduced to the rest of the characters for the first 20 minutes or so, none of which are exciting or interesting in my opinion. Wolf is a total cliche so I'm glad he died super quick. Lemon and Tangerine had some of the worst dialogue I've heard because you can just picture Guy Richie taking these 2 characters and making them 1000 times better, funnier and more interesting. Other than that you had the spoiled woman who thought she knew best and the troubled and stern Asian, think a poor version of Squid game.

Most of the story is so over exaggerated but not in a good way, more of an immersion breaking way. For example these guys are smashing each other through windows, hitting each other with laptops, throwing things everywhere and no one on the train bats an eye. It's almost as if the writers made the running gag that somehow everyone is deaf aboard this train. The problem is it's not funny. At one point around half way through Brad Pitt hits a red button and as if they were aboard an airplane both him and tangerine get blown out of the train. Far fetched is expected but this is just silly. Hornet being inside the giant costume was very predictable and lazy writing.

The mansplaining joke was pretty funny though as she bled out of her eyeballs. "Do you need a blanket" that one was funny as we see her get a taste of her own medicine, literally. Lemon surviving getting shot again was predictable as he said he had a bullet proof vest, so anyone who thought he was dead isn't too bright.

I will say the soundtrack is pretty good and if you're a West ham fan you'll love it as "blowing bubbles" plays every 2 minutes.

Also there was a few good cameos from big stars such as Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum.

Throughout the rest of the film the one thing keeping me watching was to see what twist would happen at the end. Brad Pitt killed lemons brother but he just forgets about it 2 minutes later but once we arrive at Kyoto station we get to hear why The White death brought everybody together. The girl on the train is his daughter and the whole plan to blow him up fails within 2 seconds. We all end up back on the train with lots of fighting and shooting, the usual over the top nonsense. Trains colliding with other trains but still staying on the tracks, I mean come on. Lemon swan dives out of the train into water, and we see the worst product placement ad for Fuji water ever. The Train crashes finally and of course Brad Pitt survives. Lastly we see The white death blow himself up with the rigged gun and half his face explodes, ala Gus Fring. No twist, no shocks, The end.

Overall a film that at least tries to be different from all of the other garbage that has been coming out for years now, with lots of great actors but completely fails to tell a good story or have you enjoy any of the action along the way. If you want to see Brad Pitt in a somewhat similar but MUCH better film... just watch Snatch.

Monster (2022– )

Brilliant if at times Unfocused

[8/10 · 10 October 2022]

A sick and evil serial killer who done unspeakable things to his victims is shown on full display, sometimes sadistic, sometimes playing the victim, Jeffrey was if nothing else a highly captivating person in Dahmer. From the outset the first episode really draws you in to what Jeff's MO was. Meaning what his tactic was for capturing and killing his victims. They lay out the first episode very well and have most of the story on display setting a general timeline for what has happened over the years. The next few episodes are a bit more average, consisting of flashbacks to Jeff as kid growing up and how he worked his way to killing, it's told well and acted even better so it's more than enough to keep you watching closely. Towards the final few episodes I felt like I had already seen everything to piece together exactly what the outcome was so it seemed to drag slightly at the tail end. One downside is the story itself should clearly be centred around the serial killer and what he done to his victims, who were from a vast array of races and creeds but instead certain episodes take time to push certain stereotypes and agendas onto us. The police are always the bad guys, they always messed up. People of certain races are always innocent etc. This is especially prevalent in the Casandra episode where it spends more time focused on racial matters than actually getting on track with what the show is about. This leads to a misguided nature at points and sadly nowadays this underlying message inserted into writing has become common place in most forms of media. Overall the show has a decent enough storyline and is structured well to what happened that it remains a really good captivating watch.

Confessions of an Alien Abductee (2013 TV Movie)

Absolute Comedy Gold

[8/10 · 5 September 2022]

This is honestly one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

From a guy who says his mum's an alien and he has sex with an alien called cat queen, to a woman who thinks she's got alien DNA and then proceeds to fail a polygraph and get told she definitely doesn't have alien DNA, this has everything you need to laugh your alien patterned socks off.

I watched this on Netflix and although it states it's 50 minutes long be prepared to spend nearly two hours watching it as half the time you'll need to pause it to laugh uncontrollably, or because you want to rewind it and record parts of it to show your friends for a good laugh in the group chat.

Now while this is extremely funny let's be honest here, almost all of these people are suffering from mental illness, or at least mental delusions. This usually stems from trauma at some point in their life, which is made very clear when the guy who has sex with aliens explains his mum was an alcoholic and showed him no love and was never around. Clearly that's why he lives in this fantasy world believing his mums an alien, but credit to him for maintaining a regular job and atleast being productive.

The other woman with the beehive, who loves "Kentucky fried" doesn't seem to have anything going on in her life and so creating these fantasies gives herself a reason to live. Saying she would miss the aliens and that they're part of her family proves this.

One of the best parts is when the woman who thinks she's an alien goes to the doctors and the doctor, who looks clearly confused repeats what she told him "SO, for a long time, someones been implanting things into your body?" I just about passed out from laughing at this point, but when he analyses her and says she may have neurofibromatoses and she needs a scan I thought that would be the end of it, instead she rocks up to some random guys house and he proceeds to shove her into a blackout tent and whip off her clothes before shining some UV lights on her. At the end she gets told she isn't an alien and she acts exactly like that guy who found out his local takeaway was selling drugs, "whaaat, whaaat, I never knew that"

Overall this is must watch for some of the best wtf is going on laughs you'll have all year and to see people who have almost certainly lost their minds try to justify why they live in a fantasy world and how they go about holding on to these beliefs despite facts and evidence proving them wrong. If you get a chance, defo give this a watch.