DoctorEncore

The original Sonic movie is probably one of my favorite videogame adaptations and turned my son into a die-hard Sonic fan. He doesn't care about the games at all, but loves the movie and tv shows. Hopefully we'll get to the theater to see the new one in the next couple weeks. I watched Mortal Engines the other day and man was that a huge disappointment. There was enough interesting visual stuff and world building to hold my attention for the first thirty minutes, but the story stumbles over itself and goes nowhere. There are a bunch of competing plot lines which have little-to-no impact on main narrative which is unbelievably mediocre on its own. I think there is an interesting story somewhere to be told with the Shrike character, but what's here is a jumbled mess that definitively makes the movie worse. It feels like this could've been a decent trilogy or limited series, but it absolutely fails as a single, event-type movie. By the way, what happened to Peter Jackson? LotR is a crowning achievement in cinema and I think King Kong is an underrated masterpiece, but it's been all downhill since then (he didn't direct Mortal Engines but he was heavily involved in its creation). I wish he'd go back to low-budget weird like Dead Alive (AKA Braindead) or mid-budget goofy like The Frighteners. As for TV, we just started The Mare of Easttown on HBO. The show is extremely gritty, dark, and realistic. The characters feel very human and there is a constant feeling of sadness and failure that hangs over every interaction. My first impression is that it might be leaning a bit too hard into the dreary aspects of these characters lives, but the central mystery is intriguing. The show definitely has a slow start and feels like it will be a slow burn.

Damn, maybe I should dig mine out and try to make a few bucks.

Technically that would be 0.09%, but that's still incredibly low odds. I should've done the math at the time and saved myself some time.

Thanks. I'll add it to the thread.

Same. What is the deal with this one? I must've tried for at least ten hours and never got it back in the early 2000s. I wonder if some revisions of the game just didn't drop this correctly.

The popcorn ones are always the worst. Yuck.

I really should. I read The Jungle in high school and I still think about it occasionally. If Oil! is even half as good, it would be worth my time.

Overall I was actually pretty happy with the way awards were handed out this year. As I said up above, leaving Villeneuve out was a huge mistake, but otherwise they made some decent picks. I would have been personally offended if Dunst won best Actress though. Bleck. I'll definitely check out Licorice Pizza. I'm not a huge P. T. Anderson fan, but There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece.

I was getting a little bogged down in the middle of Tunic due to the nature of the gameplay, but now I'm really digging into the endgame and I'm 100% back on board. There are multiple endings and I went ahead and got the bad one out of the way. Now I'm working on deciphering some elaborate puzzles in hopes of getting the good ending without a guide. I wish I could elaborate, but anything I say would border on spoiler territory. I will say that this is the first time I've taken notes for a video game in quite a while. A good spoilery description of this game would be This game really rules. I think it will top a lot of game of the year lists. It's one of those games you wish you could forget and go back and play again.

I'd recommend skipping Sticker Star (3DS) and Origami King (Switch), although a few here on VGS seemed to like the Switch game. I just found the battle system intolerably boring and occasionally frustrating.

For the first thirty minutes, I kept asking myself, "Did they seriously not film this in America?" They did not. And it is obvious. I could see taking the angle that everything about the movie is an imitation of reality and this would actually play into some of the heavier themes of the movie in an interesting way. But I don't think that's the case. I think they legitimately thought the sets and scenery were a good imitation of the American west.

Welcome! Let's see those MLG skills!

Past: 1997 Pontiac Bonneville 2004 Pontiac G6 1992 Mercury Cougar 2008 Ford Escape Current: 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 2015 Hyundai Tuscon Future? Looking at adding a Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, or Kia Telluride for my ever-expanding family. I was really enjoying having no car payment. Doh!

My wife and I finished up The Good Place. I agree with the critics that it is probably one of the best comedies of the last ten years. I found myself actually caring about the characters by the end, which is no small feat for a man who doesn't get invested in television shows very often. It's probably one of the smartest comedies around with lots of clever jokes and subtle references that reward the eagle-eyed viewer. It also has some of the biggest swings in plot of any show I've ever seen, yet somehow manages to stay consistently good. Highly recommended! Other than that, I've been working my way through the Best Picture nominees. Overall, I have not been impressed with this year's crop, but that's kind of par for the course. Here are a few short thoughts. Dune: This was easily my favorite of the nominees, although I'm heavily biased due to my love for the books (the first two, anyways). I saw this in IMAX and it was an absolute feast for the eyes and ears. As beautiful as the cinematography and directing are, the sound design is some of the best I've ever experienced. You owe it to yourself to find a good surround setup to experience this film. It's a damn shame that Villeneuve wasn't nominated for best director for getting this story on screen in a coherent and entertaining fashion. I'm hopeful the Academy will reward him after he finishes his planned trilogy in the same way they did Peter Jackson for LotR. Highly recommended. Power of the Dog: An extraordinarily ordinary movie with some interesting themes that are never explored with any sort of depth or creativity. Everything here feels like a caricature of something real (New Zealand makes for a laughable parody of Montana; I kept expecting Hobbits to pop up). Cumberbatch is horribly miscast as a "macho" cowboy with a terrible American accent. It's hard to blame him when the script is so weak, but his character is such a stereotypical picture of angry repression that it could have been written by a high school drama student. Dunst's transformation from a strong survivor into an alcoholic mess happens so quickly and casually that it almost comes off as a joke. Plemmons basically serves as window dressing with almost nothing to do. The only good thing here is the creepy Smit-McPhee and the twist ending, which is appropriately subtle if a bit silly. This movie is the epitome of what it means to be Oscar-bait. Don't Look Up: I thought it was okay, although it was unclear why it was nominated for an Oscar. To its credit, it touches on some important issues and definitely nails the zeitgeist of our time. Still, the premise isn't exactly mind blowing and, despite making its point within the first thirty minutes, the movie limps on for another two hours after that. If you like to be bludgeoned with satire rather than finessed by it, this is the movie for you. Belfast: I enjoyed this one, but it suffers from feeling too personal and too small. I honestly think it would work better as a play. There are some standout performances here, particularly Judi Dench as Granny, but the stakes just feel too low to be meaningful. There are a few ethereal scenes that make you question the reality of the situation and it works surprisingly well; I wish Branagh had leaned into the unreliable narrator aspect a bit harder. The innocence of childhood really does tint our memories of hard times and would've made some of the the sillier scenes (i.e the riot/standoff near the end) a bit more palatable, in my opinion. I'm still planning on watching CODA, Westside Story, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, and Drive My Car. I'm particularly interested in Nightmare Alley since I love Del Toro and definitely enjoy a good noir mystery.

I'd rather eat the sewing supplies my Grandma kept in the tin than any of the cookies that originally came with it.

My son is 5 and absolutely loves creative mode in Minecraft. He will spend an hour exploring the world and couldn't care less about accomplishing anything. There is no reading required for this mode since there are no goals to accomplish. You can fly and turn on invincibility if you want, so it's pretty chill.

With the LoZ delay, that just leaves Starfield for me. It's gonna be a good year to hit the backlog hard. I expect God of War to slip as well, but maybe Sony will push hard to get it done now that BotW is out of the way.

Starting with some oldies on Xbox. These all have slip covers which aren't shown here. There weren't many steelbooks or limited edition games released for the Wii, so if you ever see Cursed Mountain in the Wild, definitely snag it. It has a cool alternate cover. The same can be said for FF12, although it was obviously minted in much higher numbers. I love the classy artwork included here. Apparently Codemasters wanted a piece of the steelbook game, but didn't want to put in any effort as these two just have standard box art. The Naruto art is pretty legit though. I actually really dig this subdued Halo 4 steelbook. Prey is an annoying, giant steelbook. Lost Planet is kind of unique in that it contains full color art that doesn't quite match the standard box art. Some more nice alternate art on DMC 4, Dishonored, and Gears of War 2. The Fallout 4 and Mass Effect Legendary art are probably my favorite in this group. Doom Eternal and Borderlands 3 are probably two of my all-time favorite steelbooks. No Man's Sky is probably the standout here with a nice, subdued look. Two more of my favorites here. FF7 Intergrade and Bloodstained both offer some beautiful alternate art. Here are some disappointing games with interesting art. Anthem was so close to being amazing and the flying felt perfect. Cyperpunk actually has a 4th variant, but I don't have it. And here is the Hall of Shame, hidden behind a spoiler tag. These are all the steelbooks that I've not opened. I'm sure you can find the art online and if I ever crack them open, I'll post pictures. Some of them just have clear slip cases, so you get the idea.

The Terror (book) is awesome. Probably one of my favorite of the last ten years. I haven't checked out the show, but I've heard it's also pretty good. The novel is a real beast though, so I'm guessing they had to make a lot of compromises.

From my forever unfinished box variant thread: Releases Original Release: NES-ZY-USA (01203) Variant #1 (V1): NES-ZY-USA-1 (20108) Changes Front: New photo of Gretzky in white jersey with corresponding change in gold star background; Nintendo logo moved to bottom left; Wayne Gretzky endorsement text color changed to blue and moved to upper left Back: New photo of Gretzky in white jersey with corresponding change in gold star background; "Incredibly Realistic Design and Graphics" text color changed to blue; minor changes to copyright info. Left/Right Sides: Minor changes in background star pattern Top/Bottom: Minor changes in background star pattern

I finally finished up Dead Space (360). That game has some great moments and I'm looking forward to the sequels and remakes. Other than that, I've just been focusing on Tunic. It's an amazing little game. The world and design are so beautiful that they are basically the main character of the game; you are just a little side character running around interacting with them. My only real complaints are that the combat gets a bit repetitive towards the end and magic feels a little underpowered (or at least under-supplied). Otherwise it's a superb adventure. Highly recommended to everyone here at VGS.

I haven't played it since release but I remember being pretty disappointed. It's colorful and has some interesting mechanics, but it definitely didn't live up to its predecessor.

Welcome! Glad you made it over.

It's so good! I love how the game directs you in the right direction without forcing you down any single pathway. The gating is very organic and you can tell a ton of thought went into the design. It's extremely satisfying picking up a new page of the manual and finally figuring out how to use a mysterious item. It's also got that Celeste thing going for it where you suddenly discover abilities/powers you didn't even know you had; I'm a sucker for that mechanic.

I'm a big fan of steelbooks since they usually have much more interesting art than standard releases, although they are entirely impractical and prone to damage. I'll post some of mine when I get a chance.