Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
LOOKS:
SAS Rogue Heroes: Series 2 - the bold and bombastic return of Stephen Knight's WWII action drama, this time covering the Special Air Service's time liberating Italy while their leader attempts to escape imprisonment. Stylish and entertaining (replete with its rock and roll soundtrack, mirroring the outlaw attitude of the hounds biting at the heels of the Axis powers), this proves to be even better than the first series. Subplots relating to the mental state of the men, brutalised by warfare and the cut-throat tactics of their raids, adds a deep emotional layer to counterbalance the smashy bashy. How would you go about reintroducing such men to normal, quiet, civilised society after turning them into the Hounds of Hell? Knight has also found his new Tommy Shelby in the form of Paddy Mayne, an Irish lover of poetry and a ruthless killer with a distaste for authority figures, who is afforded many juicy lines of dialogue throughout.
The Hitcher (Blu-Ray)
The Rig: Series 2 - David Macpherson's supernatural drama/thriller returns to Prime, shifting the action primarily to an Arctic oil rig. The first season benefitted from close-quarters paranoid horror mystery a la 1982's The Thing with a little bit of 1980's The Fog thrown in for good measure, but that is mostly missing from this second season, the focus of which shifts more to corporate conspiracy and science fiction. As a fan of the first season it's still worth continuing with, but it didn't pack the same punch this time around.
The House That Jack Built (Blu-Ray)
Video Nasty: Series 1 - Hugh Travers' comedy horror series follows three Irish teens on a mission to purchase the final videotape in their collection of 'Video Nasties', the term given to a slew of horror and exploitation movies that fell foul of the British Board of Film Censors (as they were known before the introduction of the 1984 Video Recordings Act, changing 'Censors' to 'Classification') during the 1980s as part of a moral panic that swept the United Kingdom. There were police raids on video shops renting or selling certain videotapes that were deemed morally reprehensible and 'likely to corrupt' the viewer, fines were dished out, stock was seized, criminal convictions were handed out, and even a prison sentence for the distributor of Nightmares In A Damaged Brain resulted.
Travers' six-part BBC Three series uses this backdrop for a blend of character comedy, a splash of drama, and a dose of rural folk horror. Naturally, as a keen follower of the whole Video Nasties debacle, and as someone who was in his formative years when the BBFC underwent liberalisation and previously banned videos were being reintroduced, I had an absolute blast with this one. Fingers crossed for a second series.
The Matrix (Blu-Ray)
Senna - this Brazilian six-part mini-series, showrun by Vincente Amorim, covers the life and career of Formula 1 racing legend Ayrton Senna. Gabriel Leone's performance in the lead role is admirable, pulling the audience in on an emotional level, and successfully recreating some iconic moments from the man's time in F1 (such as his first win in his homeland of Brazil). The show itself is, at times, pointedly one-sided and even dips into unabashed hero worship, but the last episode finds a better balance in the tone as the inevitable tragedy looms closer. It's not especially deep for the most part, choosing to focus mostly on the surface level of a man driven to win for the bulk of its episodes - but, again, the final episode does begin to circle some meatier stuff. It's certainly worth watching for F1 fans, but the documentary of the same name was perhaps a better examination of the legend.
American Primeval - written by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg, this six-part limited series is set in the harsh wilds of Utah in 1857 during the Utah War. A mother (Betty Gilpin) on the run with her young son seeks safe passage to her estranged husband, but gets caught up in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, perpetrated by a Mormon Militia who tried to pin the slaughter on Native Americans. She teams up with a rugged wild man (Taylor Kitsch) as they journey through the harsh wilderness with all its dangers; meanwhile, a survivor of the massacre searches for his kidnapped wife, as the state's Governor attempts to flush out any and all undesireables (including the US military) from the area. Brutal from the outset, this show grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you along for the ride, but that's not to say it's not without wit or emotion, as it certainly possesses both. Well-written characters, a realistic depiction of the setting, and an engaging story - excellent.
Band of Brothers (DVD)
American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson - Netflix documentary series about the infamous case of sports star turned actor O.J. Simpson facing trial for a double murder, in what became a miscarriage of justice to avenge a miscarriage of justice (the acquital of the cops who were captured on video brutally beating Rodney King, the incident which led to the L.A. riots). There's a truly dreadful metaphor used by one of the O.J. defense team, comparing the trial (which was turned into a circus about anything except for the two people who were murdered) to a large bowl of spaghetti in which you find a cockroach. His angle was you throw out the entire bowl of spaghetti, but the metaphor completely falls apart because the fact remains that it is still an unmistakable bowl of spaghetti, eaten by you, served by the waiter, and cooked by the chef, regardless of the cockroach.
Covering a great wealth of information, including various pieces of evidence and eye witnesses that weren't included in the trial for one reason or another (e.g. a failure to even collect the evidence, or a witness speaking to the press in exchange for money), but some of the most revealing (and even damning) tidbits come from Simpson's former manager (e.g. the charade of 'not being able to wear the gloves' was aided by Simpson not taking his arthritis medication, which caused his joints to swell, or one particularly chilling comment made by Simpson after the trial). The documentary also exposes various fuck-ups on the prosecution side, although some are argued by the defense in quite spurious terms, or in ways similar to the aforementioned bowl of spaghetti metaphor: the fact still remains.
Cobra Kai: Season 6C - by this point the show has undoubtedly gone on too long, the first four seasons being its strongest, but the final season (albeit needlessly lengthened and awkwardly drawn-out over several months, hampering its pacing) has found a better sense of purpose than season five. The final five episodes don't always go the way you might expect, and the showrunners wisely remember where the show started and what it's core purpose has always been. Despite becoming over-ripe, the show nonetheless comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Reacher: Season 3 - the most welcome return of Nick Santora's series based on Lee Child's novels. It's probably a good thing to eek out the episodes once a week, because I ravenously devoured the opening three in the blink of an eye, and it certainly lets you digest each episode and build anticipation for the next. I flippin' love this show!
Zero Day - created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael Schmidt. Some critics have complained that the show refuses to plant a flag on a clear patch of land, but such murkiness is one of the show's strengths, delving into a political thriller about a terrible cyber attack on the USA and what comes afterwards. You never can figure out which party the Former President, or the current President, belong to, while other characters such as the media blowhard have their toes dipped into areas of controversy that overlap the political divide. Certain story elements stumble a bit, or feel somewhat fanciful in the otherwise realistic tone (i.e. 'Proteus'), but after a slightly slow-ish first couple of episodes the pace keeps ramping-up and draws you into the show. Good stuff.
SOUNDS:
ZZ Top "Afterburner" (album)
Marilyn Manson "Holy Wood" (album), "Anti-Christ Superstar" (album), "Mechanical Animals" (album)
VIBES & FLAVOURS:
"Night Shift" by Stephen King - a collection of short stories. Some particular highlights for me included: Jerusalem's Lot, Graveyard Shift, The Mangler, Grey Matter, The Boogeyman, and One For The Road.
Sega Mega Drive Classics Collection (Xbox Series S) - trying out the Japanese version of Streets of Rage 2 (aka Bare Knuckle II) and SOR3, with it's slightly saucier clothing, a couple of tweaks here and there, and one particularly dated character that'd get the easily-offended into fits of frothy-mouthed apoplexy. Perhaps it was knowing what to expect, or getting a bit more into the flow of old school 16bit gaming, but it was easier the second time around for SOR2 and 3, the latter of which affords the player access to the whole game at all difficulty levels, unlike its western counterparts.
Assassin's Creed Unity (Xbox Series S) - I avoided this entry like the plague when it was first launched due to its disastrously buggy nature (the old classic of a corporatised release schedule to appease shareholders, despite the inherent damage that ultimately does to a project's chances in the market), and it's certainly fair to say that, even after many bug fixes over the years, this isn't some Cyberpunk 2077-like rebirth. Indeed, many of the frustrations of previous entries in the franchise remain, such as randomly clumsy parkour, fight, and camera mechanics, exacerbated by curiously laggy input response. Similarly eyebrow-raising is the needlessly complex monetary and upgrade system, which can best be described as miserly, all in order to push micro-transactions.
The game gets off to a sloppy start, such as the escape from Le Bastille, which boasted a general lack of guidance for the player 'in the moment', so it was very easy to get lost or not be looking where you need to be going and, indeed, I failed it numerous times simply because I kept getting shot off of a wall I'm supposed to climb up. Such rough edges in poorly-finessed missions so early on is unforgiveable, and all the more curious as the game does improve as it goes along, although there are recurring issues with path finding in general. The inherent flaws of the mechanics persist, but you find ways to limit their negative impact (not that you should have to), and when the game isn't tripping up over itself you can find some enjoyably brutal combat to sink your teeth into while also exploring the beautifully-realised location of revolutionary-era Paris.
Slyly walking through a crowd and snuffing an extremist in-passing never gets old, same too for double-assassinations (especially from the air), while some of the later main missions tend towards being quite good as they provide freedom to the player to tackle it as they see fit. Various side quests are good fun, as is the map clearing (despite the typically fussy lockpick level-ups), and the solving of crimes is an interesting addition, but one which often feels clumsy, scattered, and unfriendly to the user. So it's an unsurprisingly mixed bag, but even with the host of problems continually thrown in the player's face, it's undeniable that AC: Unity makes for an entertaining gaming experience.
%20001.jpg)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment