Currently: May 2014

Every month I’m going to post a quick update as to what I’ve been seeing, watching and playing.  Feel free to give me recommendations!

Movies

Just Seen

• Lego Movie (2014) – Such a fun movie. I actually went into the cinema with pretty high expectations from the hype I’ve been hearing and it didn’t disappoint.  Not only were the visuals stunning, but the dialogue was witty, tongue in cheek, satirical and very funny. Characters were all fun. I didn’t quite find the ending 20 minutes of the movie all that compelling though I could see what they were doing… but still all round very fun. Can’t wait till it gets released on DVD for a rewatch.
• Lady Vengeance (2005) – This is the third movie from Chan-wook Park’s Vengeance Trilogy. I absolutely LOVED Old Boy, which was the first one I saw, but had mixed feelings about Sympathy for Mr Vengeance.  However, Lady Vengeance was a fantastic movie. It was so well directed, had an interesting soundtrack, and had believable and complex characters. There’s less violence in this movie than in Old Boy, but it’s still a very real revenge story. I really like how the protagonist was written.  She’s a complex woman who is angry at the injustice done to her, but she’s still has a multitude of feelings and motivations. It makes it a lot more compelling than if it’s just a straight-up revenge, action flick.  The twist in the climax of the movie was fantastic and almost surreal.

Will See

Gozilla and Maleficient. Can’t wait! They both look fantastic though I’m more curious as to what Disney’s going to do with Maleficient. The character from the animation was both terrifying and awe-inspiring, hope Jolie can pull it off!

Television

Watched

• Rick and Morty (season 1)  – What an awesome series. A friend forced me to watch it and I was skeptical at first, given how “zany” it looked. But my god it’s so funny and very clever. The humour might not be for everyone as it’s definitely pretty dark and adult at parts but it never feels dumbed down. It’s obviously a dark spoof of Back to the Future’s Marty and Dr Brown duo, but even though it gets pretty twisted sometimes, there’s always a lot of heart in the characters.  Can’t wait till the next season!

Watching

• Hannibal (season 1)  – I feel like Hannibal should be a 5 star show, and many say that it is, but it doesn’t really do it for me. Every time I watch an episode, I really enjoy it for the direction, characters, story but once an episode ends I rarely want to immediately watch another one. Maybe the pacing is too slow for me? I’m about halfway through the season and I got a feeling I’m going to be plodding through it for a while longer.
• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey  – I love this series so much, I tune in every Wednesday for my weekly dose of being absolutely enchanted by space and the cosmos.  I love that the show doesn’t only look at cosmic phenomena, but it also touches on the history of cosmic discoveries on Earth, important figures, evolution, chemistry etc. Its heartfelt explanations, breath of topics  and production values set it apart from other documentaries about space. It’s a fantastic introduction to the subject.

Will Watch

Game of Thrones! I’m waiting till the season ends so I can watch it in one hit, which is what I usually do. From the bits and pieces of what I’ve heard it sounds like it’s going to be an interesting season.  I also need to watch Bob’s Burgers as I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and also try to get my hands on the newest season of Archer.

Gaming

Note: I am terrible at completing games. So when I say “played” I generally mean “I’ve started the game” but generally doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve finished it unless stated otherwise.

Recently Played/Playing

• Pokémon X (3DS)  – I actually finished this one, whooo! This was actually a pretty enjoyable addition to the Pokémon franchise.  There were new mechanics and upgrades to existing ones that made the game more accessible to new players or more casual players. The story was okay, nothing striking, the gyms were very inventive and more fun than previous games and the mega-evolution thing was interesting but ultimately not that useful. All those random battles though, ugh…
• Alice: Madness Returns (PC)  – I didn’t get to play the first Alice game and I only started this one because I bought it on a sale. Though I was pleasantly surprised by it. Beautiful graphics, smooth controls and intriguing premise. You play as Alice as you transition between the “real” world and the twisted “Wonderland”. I’m not sure the story is intriguing enough though and I lose patience with action games quite quickly. Not sure whether I’d return to the game but it definitely seemed to have potential.
• Rune Factory 4 (3DS)  – I’ve been obsessively playing this game in the last two months. More detailed review coming soon in its own post.

Will Play

Nothing much lined up. I think I will get the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game, but I haven’t finished the previous Professor Layton or the latest Phoenix Wright game either. So much to play, so little time!