I’ve tried to like the original Blade Runner. I’ve watched it several times, in several different “official” final, FINAL and this time we mean it cuts. It just ends up boring me. Deckard is a dull character. The plot is dull and meandering. But the visuals are cool and Rutger Hauer fights in a pair of boxer-briefs. I get why folks go nuts for it (the film, not the briefs), but it’s just doesn’t do it for me. This sequel is just as visually stunning and has a slightly more interesting lead character and plot. But, in the end, it’s once again overly long and a little dull. I liked the main villain, but she looked and acted exactly like Milla Jovovich from Zoolander. The final act was the movies’ way of saying, “Remember how dull young Harrison Ford was in the original? Well, the old guy’s still… um… got it!” And let me tell you, I love synth sounds as much as the next guy, but there’s no need to blast your phat analog patch at a volume eleven just to remind viewer the something might be happening in your rambling story. Shame on you, guy who mixed the sound in this movie. Blah, blah. Yeah, but pretty pictures!
I thought it was Game of Thrones, but this is definitely the weakest Telltale release. I don’t mind that this is geared for children, but the thing that makes Telltale games work is difficult choices. I felt all the decisions in this game were pretty obvious and didn’t have broad ramifications. Also, when you have Patton Oswald and Pee Wee Herman as your lead voice actors, you’d think there’d be a bit more room for comic hijinx. Alas, this is not the case.
Bonnie McFarlane’s documentary sets itself up as an investigative report into the supposed bias against women in comedy. It doesn’t really probe that topic too deeply. Instead it becomes more of a reality show about Bonnie and her husband, fellow comedian Rich Voss. This is all for the better, because the interaction between the two is far more interesting (and funny) than delving into sexism and other heady topics.
It took me nearly half a decade to finish this one. Not that it’s terribly difficult, I just put it down at some point and forgot to finish it. I suppose that’s not really a ringing endorsement. Oh well.
This installment in the series feels much like its predecessor, The Phantom Hourglass. The hook here is that over world travel takes place on trains rather than boats. Also, this time around Zelda is with you as a spirit who can possess the bodies of various armored “phantoms”. This leads to some decent puzzles in which you need to control both characters in order to achieve your goals.
I apparently left off at the last dungeon and had to relearn all the various moves and monster types. The learning curve is really steep if you jump in at the end like I did and that’s probably why it took such an effort to get back in to the game. Oh and, dear gawd, the final battle is frustrating. Stylus movement is good for puzzles but sucks when you need to have quick reflexes to win. Had I played it all the way through without the hiatus I would probably rank this higher, but my procrastination soured the experience a little.
This is a double CD set of Mario Bava soundtracks. Cipriani’s work is a little corny at times. To my ears, it’s often indistinguishable from Scooby Doo background music. However, about two-thirds of this set is pretty good. I especially like the bongos on Bay of Blood and the kinetic harpsichord in Rabid Dogs. Baron Blood is a bit too muzak for my tastes.
Bruno Nicolai is often cited as Ennio Morricone’s conductor for many of his soundtracks. I get the feeling that the two, as they both cranked out giallo scores, literally borrowed from each other during the early seventies. Les Cauchemars has the free-form experimentalism of your standard Italian thriller soundtrack. Many of the songs alternate between being based around a disjointed, percussive honky-tonk piano sound and ambient violin notes. Although there’s no catchy title song, the CD good for what it is… a party ender.
Witcher 3 is a massive open world RPG that’s full of detail in terms of visuals and story. It’s was no surprise that it would take weeks for me to finish. As of right now GOG is telling me that I spent 100 hours to complete the main story line and I still have two expansions to complete. There’s just so much to explore and do.
I played on a normal difficulty, so the combat was just enough to be challenging but not a bottleneck to the story. I felt like I wasn’t as reliant on potions and magic as I was in Witcher 2. That game had some truly challenging boss fights. This one was much more casual feeling. I could pick up and play at any old time.
The strength of this series is the characters and story. Even NPCs from minor side quests are given a little story blurb in the character logbook. There’s so much rich backstory, at times it get to be a little overwhelming.
An entertaining read that pretty much says everything funny that can be said about food. I’ve read a couple of these books by comedians lately and the problem is that the inner voice in my head that is reading these books just doesn’t have the comedic timing of a Jim Gaffigan.
The destruction of this venerable brand continues in this latest reboot sequel. This is not the contemplative sci-fi of the original series. It’s balls-out action all da way. As such, it’s enjoyable trash but the chemistry of the original crew is gone and the plot is your basic “stop the doomsday device” trope. The use of a Beastie Boys song in the climax is the worst of the worst. Simon Pegg should be ashamed.
I originally bought this dual soundtrack CD because I wanted the music from La Tarantola Dal Ventre Nero. That soundtrack is great and I eventually got a better. more complete version of it. The highlights from that score are included here. The other score included, I Malamondo, has a decidedly lighter tone to it. At times it sounds like a sixties sitcom theme song or circus music. Not my favorite of the Maestro’s work.
