VIDEO GAME: Dinner with an Owl (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Dinner with an OwlYear: 2021Rating: N/ATime Played: 0.5 hours Dinner with an Owl feels like one of those throwback games from the era when adventure games just started having point-and-click capability and good enough sound cards to do voice acting. Of course, the length of this game is more on the side of a demo than a full game. If anything, it shows that small or solo teams of developers can release games of all sorts these days. It’s functional, even if there isn’t a lot of it to experience. One aspect of point-and-click games I always found frustrating was how many different things you had to click to find the right item to progress the story. Dinner with an Owl is peculiar in that you can’t interact with much. Again, it’s a simple game that doesn’t get bogged down in the extras that don’t add to the narrative. This also means the interaction options with the characters are fairly limited as...
Read More

MOVIE: Palm Springs (2020)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Palm Springs Year: 2020 Rating: R Length: 90 minutes / 1.50 hours There's something special about the time loop plot format. It's been done several times in plenty of different genres. That there are even a few beloved movies like Groundhog Day (1993) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) shows how meaningful the time loop can be when done properly. Palm Springs (2020) is the latest in this genre that follows in both footsteps of Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow by being a romantic comedy with a sci-fi explanation for the repeating timeline. As a modern romantic comedy (perhaps one of the last modern romantic comedies), much of the humor in Palm Springs is crass and sexualized. This means that occasionally there's a good joke or two in here, but it mostly just feels like the frustrated rambling of a horny teenager. Considering that Andy Samberg features prominently in this film, it's no wonder why this is the case. Now, there are parts that are...
Read More