VIDEO GAME: Hollow Knight (2017)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Hollow Knight Year: 2017 Rating: E10+ Time Played: 2,712 minutes / 45.20 hours Every once in a while, I come across a game that hooks me right out of the gate. The music, ambiance, and gameplay mixed in a perfect combination that encouraged me to keep playing. Despite the sharp difficulty curve I encountered for the main bosses, the stakes made me continue the journey all the way to its conclusion (at least one of the few different endings, that is). There is nothing more rewarding than feeling so close to defeating a boss, only to mess up and need to try again and finally succeeding. For an affordable indie game, Hollow Knight is filled with content. Even if I found myself stuck at a particular junction, I could merely explore some other facet of the gigantic map until my skills improved to the point where I could defeat the roadblock in my way. All the while, I marveled at the unique visuals for each...
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MOVIE: Wrath of Man (2021)

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Wrath of Man Year: 2021 Rating: R Length: 119 minutes / 1.98 hours Back in the early 2010s, I found myself drawn to Guy Ritchie's films. Lately, though, I've been disappointed in what I've gotten. I can probably pinpoint the downturn with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). While Aladdin (2019) mostly worked due to its source material, films like The Gentlemen (2020) felt off. There's a visual charm to a Guy Ritchie film that has been missing as of late. Of course, visuals are only half of what made his early films great. It's that "can't take yourself too seriously" attitude that seems to have been lost since then. While it's great to see Ritchie working with long-time collaborator Jason Statham again, I had the distinct feeling that I had seen Wrath of Man (2021) before when I rented it from Redbox. When the first 30 minutes of the film can be succinctly captured by a 2-minute trailer, then we have a problem....
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BOOK: Stories of Your Life and Others (2002)

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Stories of Your Life and OthersYear: 2002Author: Ted ChiangLength: 623 minutes / 10.38 hours After reading Exhalation, I found myself in search of more stories by Ted Chiang. This led me to Stories of Your Life and Others. Partly because this collection included many of Chiang’s earlier stories, not all of them were great pieces of literature like the ones in Exhalation. I could tell that Chiang was still trying to find his voice as a writer as he explored many science fiction topics common to the genre. While not all of the stories are fantastic, there are enough good ones to warrant reading this collection. What’s a little disappointing is how some of the ideas Chiang explores in this book are truly interesting topics, but the execution of these stories feels a little too erudite for the common reader. I appreciate Chiang’s later ability to humanize these ideas (as shown by my love of Exhalation), but he just wasn’t quite there...
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MOVIE: Luca (2021)

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LucaYear: 2021Rating: PGLength: 95 minutes / 1.58 hours It's interesting how computers continue to become more powerful, just so they can make 3D CGI look more like traditional 2-D animation. Granted, this usually applies to the characters, as textures and settings are becoming so realistic as to be nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. While I'm sure we could probably jump the uncanny valley by now, Pixar chooses to play to its more "cartoony" roots in perhaps the most charming way possible. Their latest film, Luca (2021), oozes charm in a way that a small story like this can only achieve. Set in what appears to be early to mid-1960s (at least by the movie posters hung on the town's walls), Luca is another coming-of-age tale like Onward (2020) but with less emphasis on family bonds and more emphasis on personal independence. And while I appreciated the "big brother" narrative of Onward, I think Luca's format worked a little better since not...
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VIDEO GAME: Sayonara Wild Hearts (2019)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Sayonara Wild Hearts Year: 2019 Rating: E10+ Time Played: 1+ hour Another game I picked up during an "indie game" sale on the Switch, Sayonara Wild Hearts looked interesting mostly on the strength of its visuals. When I actually sat down to play it, I found an experience I wasn't expecting. Sayonara Wild Hearts manages to be many different games, all covered by the low-poly style and catchy soundtrack that drives its action. At its base, Sayonara Wild Hearts is mostly a rhythm game. However, its multi-genre approach made it feel like a rail-shooter more often than not. Unlike the normal music-rhythm games out there (like Guitar Hero or Rock Band), Sayonara Wild Hearts allows for some mistakes but brings the action to a halt unless the player performs certain actions needed for quick-time events. Even if it's forgiving in allowing the player to eventually memorize what needs to happen, the result is that the player's ranking for the level suffers. That being said, I...
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MOVIE: The Big Lebowski (1998)

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The Big Lebowski Year: 1998 Rating: R Length: 117 minutes / 1.95 hours In the last year or so, I've tried to watch a few cult classics that had escaped my purview. I'm familiar with their cultural significance, and I can understand why they are beloved by many, but they aren't necessarily perfect films by any means. Movies like The Goonies (1985) and Mean Girls (2004) are mostly known via their memeable moments. This was why I already understood the gist of these movies before actually sitting down and watching them. The Big Lebowski (1998) was yet another cult classic that had these same strengths and weaknesses. First off, Jeff Bridges is "The Dude." If he didn't provide such a solid performance, I doubt this movie would have become nearly as memorable. However, what people might forget about this film is how weird it is. Many sequences left me scratching my head and wondering what the heck was going on. And perhaps it's this kind...
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BOOK: Augie and the Green Knight (2014)

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Augie and the Green Knight Year: 2014 Author: Zach Weinersmith Length: 219 pages While I’m slowly getting into the deep and thorough lore of the Arthurian legend, one story that seems to be popular in the cultural zeitgeist is the one about the Green Knight. I haven’t seen the recent The Green Knight (2021) movie adaptation yet, but I’m definitely aware of its overarching story due to the middle-grade book Augie and the Green Knight. It’s clear from some of the review snippets I’ve seen for the movie that the logic of the tale doesn’t hold up to today’s standards, an issue that Augie and the Green Knight thoroughly explores. This book follows Augie, a precocious girl who is definitely smarter than her years—even at the cost of the credulity of the story. When she finds herself transported into the mythical world of the Green Knight, she is unfazed by the peculiar world. The plot unfolds as it always does in this story, except that...
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MOVIE: Black Widow (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Black Widow Year: 2021 Rating: PG-13 Length: 134 minutes / 2.23 hours After the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), it was difficult to perceive where a Black Widow movie would fit in the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fortunately, even though there are over 20 films in this cinematic juggernaut, there is still room to fill gaps in the overall story. Taking place after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Widow (2021) follows Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johannson) as she takes some "personal time" to put to bed the demons from her past. It's a little weird to have such a standalone film in the MCU, but it's the only way something like this could work. Almost a decade after the "Budapest" incident was first mentioned in an offhand remark in The Avengers (2012), Black Widow finally shows us the details of this significant event—even if it was played as a joke in previous films. Natasha's past was brought up in other parts of...
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VIDEO GAME: Job Simulator (2016)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Job SimulatorYear: 2016Rating: E10+Time Played: ~2.5 hours While I didn't know it at the time, one of the first Virtual Reality games I ever encountered was none other than Job Simulator. Many years later, I bought this game for my Oculus Quest and immediately understood the appeal. Sure, the graphics aren't top-notch, but that's not the point of Job Simulator. If anything, it's an easy introduction into the world of VR that allows the user to play around in a variety of "job" environments. The comedy in this game is quite amusing; however, its replay value is fairly limited. Set in the far future, Job Simulator pokes fun at several professions, including Auto Mechanic, Gourmet Chef, Store Clerk, and Office Worker. Anyone who has experienced any of these jobs will likely get a chuckle out of its tongue-in-cheek satire. As a single-player game, it only takes a few hours to complete all four campaigns. And while the tasks are the same on...
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