I saw Game Night last night and it’s a delight of a movie. It takes a clever conceit (an immersive game night goes a step too far) and builds on it to great affect. There are some really clever turns that mix with a movie full of a surprising amount of heart and some great… Continue reading Simple Pleasures
Reframing a Narrative
So it’s been some time (a week-ish) since Black Panther came out and the mental nerding out has sufficiently subsided that I can have some actual Rational Thoughts about the movie beyond "wow it’s so cool and Okoye is everything." And, go figure, it’s coming down to a lotta thoughts about representation. And how representation… Continue reading Reframing a Narrative
Wakanda Forever
So. Black Panther. Right now, I want nothing more than to geek the crap out about this movie. It’s, wow. Ryan Coogler’s quickly become one of my favorite directors (courtesy of Creed and Fruitvale Station), and this movie is the icing on the cake. There’s so much to love about it. The plot moves along… Continue reading Wakanda Forever
Space Car
There is a car in space right now. Like an actual road-safe, driven on earth on an actual road, not-originally-intended-for-space car in space. And it was playing David Bowie until it ran out of juice. So, a while ago, Tesla/SpaceX/Boring Company founder/potential supervillain Elon Musk tweeted that the Falcon Heavy’s test payload would be his… Continue reading Space Car
Rey and Luke
I liked a lot of things about the The Force Awakens, but easily my favorite addition was Rey, who is undeniably the best. Sure, she's basically Luke Skywalker in the original, except she's someone who's grown up with those same stories and now gets to live them out. It's cool, and she gets a lightsaber… Continue reading Rey and Luke
But For Adults
Dennis Villeneuve is currently attached to the latest adaption of Dune. It's an exciting prospect: Dune is a rich novel and Villeneuve has shown himself to be both a skilled director and excellent at adaptations. Arrival was an excellent adaption of a terrific short story, one that managed to make the feeling of the ephemeral… Continue reading But For Adults
Artistry in Disaster
The Room is an awful movie and I adore it. It's terribly made, replete with an incoherent plot and some truly questionable acting decisions, but it also manages to cross that elusive line of terribleness into wonder. It's a movie that makes you ask how on earth could something like this have been made as… Continue reading Artistry in Disaster
Personal History
Exposition is, by nature, a weird thing. In fiction, it is effectively the author, whether through prose, dialogue, or (in video games) incidental environmental encounters telling you stuff about The World you’re visiting. It could be something as mundane as Ted and Jack used to be dating but now Jack’s into Sheila and that’s when… Continue reading Personal History
The Return of The Boyband
One hundred and forty-four essays (not rants) ago I wrote about the then-upcoming Final Fantasy XV and how it was frustrating to see an entirely male party, albeit one justified by a space to allow the exploration of bromances. Anyway, the game came out and all that, and I stopped paying attention to much (any)… Continue reading The Return of The Boyband
2017 In Review
2017 has been a year. And it ends in a couple days, so that means it’s time for me to phone it in and post about posts! Five Most Popular/Viewed Posts #5: Hanging Out You know that thing where you talk about fictional characters as if they were your actual real life friends? This post… Continue reading 2017 In Review
Essays, Not Rants! 