VIDEO GAME: Cruis’n Blast (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Cruis'n BlastYear: 2021Rating: E10+Time Played: ~10 hours I've appreciated the Cruis'n games for providing a ridiculous and fun arcade experience at home. Sure, these games feel a lot different on home console hardware as compared to a seat with a steering wheel and gas pedal in an arcade. Cruis'n Blast is the first game in the series that legitimately feels like I'm playing at the arcade. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily a good thing. But if you're looking for an over-the-top racing game, this certainly fits the bill. Each course in Cruis'n Blast isn't terribly long, which makes repeating the limited set of levels repetitive as you need to collect three keys in each level to fully unlock every playable vehicle. Even once these vehicles are unlocked, you need to win races with them to gain consistent experience points that unlock other aesthetic upgrades like neon lights, souped-up engines, and other accoutrements. My qualm with the key collecting is how some keys felt...
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MOVIE: Superman (2025)

by benmweilertNo Comments
SupermanYear: 2025Rating: PG-13Length: 129 minutes / 2.15 hours With the Superman franchise now in its third or fourth film instantiation after the frenzied height of the comic book movie craze, I was interested to see where James Gunn would take this iconic character. On top of the excellent casting decisions, I was pleased to see the plot tackle some interesting philosophical questions about superheroes (similar to Captain America: Civil War (2016)) as well as addressing the need for the most powerful being on Earth to have a group of friends to rely on because he can’t do everything himself. I know we’re way past the point of individual superheroes having stand-alone films, but there was a lot to unpack with the addition of the “Justice Gang”—even with at least two of that trio being semi-recognizable heroes. Sure, they were fun additions, but with as much screen time as they got, it started feeling less like a movie about Superman (David Corenswet) and...
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BOOK: Laertes (2022)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Laertes Year: 2022 Author: Carly Stevens Length: 208 pages While I rarely see it done, I appreciate the authors who give voice and context to the side characters from famous literary works. I also like adaptations of these works in different settings that show how timeless the story is. While movies like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1990) follow the former and The Lion King (1994) follow the latter, one book I have read recently has fused both into a 1920s exploration of what Laertes was doing while the events of Hamlet unfolded in Denmark. The beauty of choosing to follow Laertes is that the (obviously titular) book about him explores the life of a man with royal connections, but who doesn’t fully rely on them to get ahead in life. Even without the intro flashback and eventual conflict with Hamlet, there’s a coming of age in Laertes that feels distinctly of the high society in the 1920s era. The old-school academic setting combined with...
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MOVIE: F1 the Movie (2025)

by benmweilertNo Comments
F1 the MovieYear: 2025Rating: PG-13Length: 155 minutes / 2.58 hours I'm not terribly huge into watching sports or racing. Yet, F1 the Movie (2025) intrigues me because it hooked me as a film about racing Formula 1 cars—which itself is more of a team sport than I originally realized. Much like Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Gran Turismo (2023) before it, F1 has a strong character-driven (ha ha) core that makes the entire experience enthralling. Whether it's the adrenaline junkie Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) just racing for the love of the thrill or the young upstart Joshua Pierce (Damson Idris) trying to prove himself, their struggles move the plot along. One aspect I appreciated about F1 was how the movie shows that the driver is not the sole reason why a car wins a race. There are so many aspects involved, many of which are pure engineering, that it's difficult to realize all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into a winning team....
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VIDEO GAME: Arms (2017)

by benmweilertNo Comments
ArmsYear: 2017Rating: E10+Time Played: ~3 hours As one of the earliest games for the Nintendo Switch, Arms was a similar tech demo like Wii Sports was for the Wii. Highlighting the precision gyroscopes and accelerometers in the Joy-Con controllers, Arms is a fleshed-out boxing game that has excellent variety in its character designs. There are plenty of weapons to unlock through playing the game, but you really need to pull it out during parties because the single-player experience is repetitive at best and a frustrating lack of control at its worst. Fitting enough, one of the more challenging sports to play on Wii Sports was the boxing game. There's something inherently challenging in translating controller movements to in-game punches. Even with the more precise Joy-Cons, the problem in this game is, when you miss a punch, it takes a long time before you can punch again thanks to the super-long extended arms of the characters. While this means some of the strategy...
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MOVIE: M3GAN 2.0 (2025)

by benmweilertNo Comments
M3GAN 2.0Year: 2025Rating: PG-13Length: 120 minutes / 2.00 hours Plenty of horror movies have shifted into different genres for their sequel. Some like Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) moved into more action-oriented directions. In fact, Terminator 2 had such an amazing twist with making the first movie's antagonist into a protagonist that we still see its influence today in the sequel to the horror movie M3GAN (2023). By lessening some of the horror elements and leaning into more of the goofy comedy, M3GAN 2.0 (2025) was more fun than the original, but not terribly unique for an action film. As with most technologies, it wasn't long before the military sought to capitalize on transforming an AI companion android into a deadly assassin. Abandoning the Child's Play (1988) feel of the original M3GAN film, we find the snarky main character now aligned with the humans to take down this theft of their intellectual property. There are plenty of amusing bits...
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