Year of Critique

Wolfenstein II Bethesda Softworks Review/Critique: As I stated in my picks for May, I am not a big fan of the FPS genre. In fact, to my knowledge, I have never actually played an FPS game to completion. That makes Wolfenstein II the first FPS game I have ever completed and in all honesty, although the rating may be a three out of six, I was actually pleasantly surprised with how much fun I actually had playing the game. Now before I get into the review, a quick aside. I want to try something a little bit different for this review, so bear with me and let me know if you like it more than what I have been doing before for my video game reviews. I would super appreciate feedback! ...          Wolfenstein II was a game I enjoyed far more than I expected to. Maybe it's just because the idea of an FPS game set in an alternate timeline where the Germans win World War II is an inherently fun one... I don't know, but something definitely clicked for me...

Pan's Labyrinth Guillermo Del Toro Review:  While Guillermo Del Toro may be an incredibly famous director nowadays, known for his super out there artsy fartsy films, there was a time when he was little known - at least in the American public eye. He certainly wasn't a nobody, but if you asked most Americans if they'd heard the name before, they would say no. That is until this movie came out. Pan's Labyrinth is one of the most famous foreign films ever made, and pretty much single-handedly launched Guillermo Del Toro into the spotlight of modern film making. What struck me as odd about this film though right off the bat is that even though every single one of my friends had heard of this movie before, close to none of them had seen it. One of them even contested that the movie was in Spanish since "the film has David Bowie in it." So yes while most of my friends had heard the name " Pan's Labyrinth " before, they had absolutely no ide...

Through Silver in Blood Neurosis (1996) Review: Through Silver in Blood is an album I certainly did not expect to enjoy as much as I did. I'm not the type of person to say that I dislike any particular genre of music, but I'd be lying if I said metal is something I choose to listen to in my free time. In addition, when I saw that this album was 70 minutes long and that the genre is one I hardly listen to, I started dreading the thought of listening to this album in its entirety. So - I decided I would break my rule and just put this album on in the background while I did other things. I quickly found that I had set myself an impossible task as this album requires more attention to listen to than any other I've ever heard.          Through Silver in Blood is a war album. Not a glorified war album, the real stuff and man does it deliver on that idea. This is undeniably the most haunting album I have ever listened to. It transported me to another ...

Hello everyone! It's May now, which means like April and March, I am still reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. My themes for the last two months have been Nature and War based on the last two books in the series, the theme for this month is Gods and Kings . Book: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Author: J.R.R Tolkien Why I chose this theme: Alright since obviously I was going to read this book since it is the third book in the trilogy, let's talk about the theme itself. Obviously "Kings" makes sense since the book is literally titled "Return of the King", but why Gods? Well there are Gods in Lord of the Rings, and the game I wanted to play this month is about a God so I pulled some strings to be able to play it. Plus, " Gods and Kings " isn't a stretch, they do fit well together as a package deal. Album: In the Court of the Crimson King Artist: King Crimson Why I chose this album: One of the most influential Pro...

Yoshi's Island Nintendo Critique:  One thing I need to preface before I go into my review of Yoshi's Island is that I am not the biggest fan of pure platformers. I've played a multitude of other Mario titles in the past, not one to completion. Part of the fun in doing a "Year of Critique" though is stepping outside your comfort zone, and that I managed to do. For its time, Yoshi's Island is likely an impressive game but I don't think it totally holds up when looked at through a modern lens. I know this game is beloved, so let me do my best to explain.          First, let me say that I have absolutely no nostalgic ties to this game. I never played it as a kid, and only watched other kids my age play it a few times total. It's a game I always wanted to play, but I never had an SNES so I obviously never got a chance to get around to it. For this reason I can't accurately judge the game as if it were in a timeless bubble and I don...

The Revenant Alejandro González Iñárritu Review: I absolutely adore Leonardo DiCaprio. Inception, Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall Street are among some of my favorite movies and Leo's performance in all of them, in my opinion, is top notch. This movie though, this movie right here is the one that won Leo an Oscar. I've been dying to see it for a while now, but a lack of funds kept me from seeing it in theaters, and a dwindling interest in film as a whole kept me from getting around to it entirely. Now that I've seen it though, I feel safe in saying that this is Leonardo DiCaprio's best performance to date.          Does that mean it's my favorite movie I've seen with Leonardo DiCaprio in it? No, not really. In fact I would say that I like it less than all of the movies I listed above, but of stand alone performances, this is Leo's best. Don't get me wrong, this is a quality film, but it wasn't totally up my alley. The Revenant i...

The Creatures in Lady Walton's Garden Clogs (2010) Review: Within the setting in which I listened to " The Creatures in Lady Walton's Garden " it was definitely a pleasure. It compounded my enjoyment reading The Lord of the Rings very well, serving as a wonderful backdrop to the journey through fantastical wilderness. It's hard to describe exactly why, but this album feels very Celtic in tone and theme. The bells, string and wind instruments, and subdued drum beat all come together to generate a sound that makes you feel more like you are out exploring an enchanted forest than sitting in your bed reading. When I listened to this album on its own though, I definitely did not enjoy it quite as much as I did when I put it on in the background to service other things I was doing.          That's not to say I didn't like the album, I really like some of the individual tracks and the cohesiveness of the album as a whole, it's just not somethin...