Yeah, Yoshitsune is such a great villain. Most of the characters are at least somewhat memorable, it’s just that there’s relatively few of them, so it feels like another way you can tell they’ve padded out this spectacular 20-25 hour game into a very good one twice its length.
Being the Japan nerd I am, I loved the fact it was Musashi - who I’ve read books by and about - being (sort of) played by Toshiro Mifune, who is in some of my favourite films, and has even been my profile picture on occasion. I also never managed to get to Kiyomizu-dera when I was in Kyoto last year, but it’s top of my list for next time now. I did get a picture of Musashi under a gate in Nijo-Jo that I have a picture of Marit under too.
Picross S+
Holedown
Luck Be a Landlord
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Ball x Pit
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 4
Mariokart World
Alan Wake
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana
Ridge Racer
Rave Racer
Burnout Paradise
I Am Your Beast
Nothing Door
Fashion Police Squad
Drainus
1000000
Treble Bull
Onimusha Way of the Sword
Ultrapool
I was trying to work out why I hadn't completed anything in ages, but it's mainly because I've struggled to stick with anything - I like Persona 5 Strikers, and am probably halfway through, but had forgotten that until about two minutes ago, as I haven't played it in weeks. It's a really good sequel, and fun enough, but I'm just not that bothered by musou games. Pokemon FireRed and Advance Wars I am/was enjoying, but haven't got their hooks in. I'm on about my third attempt at Phoenix Wright, and I love it, but I went back to the 3DS version, and don't play it that often, despite loving it. Just need to push on, as I'm on the penultimate case, I think.
However!
Onimusha Way of the Sword did finally grab me, and has been summed up nicely by Al - it's a really great game, except for when it isn't. When it is it is so great though, and I enjoyed it immensely (most of the time), despite not being very good at it. The brilliant swordplay and resurrection of an old favourite actor of mine (Toshiro Mifune) won it a lot of goodwill, and I join most of those that've played it in hoping for a sequel that corrects some flaws and builds on its excellence.
Ultrapool is great. I love a pool game, a roguelite (most of the time), and game you can play portrait on your phone, so this latest Balatro-a-like should've been right up my street, and was. I've done every set, on every difficulty, and it will remain on my phone indefinitely.
I loved it. Felt like an (original, not meaner reboot series) Evil Dead movie wearing some Resident Evil clothes, with some Thing thrown in for good measure, so basically it combines bits of three of my favourite horror franchises of all-time, and then makes a barely 90 minute rollercoaster of a movie out of them. Just enormous fun.
I definitely feel like I’ll be at the upper end of the spectrum in terms of enjoyment, as I got the impression that not everyone in my screening found it as funny - or got as many of the references - as I did. I also understand, but don’t necessarily agree with, some of the (admittedly fairly sparse) criticism it’s facing, which seems to be based either on the fact it’s not as “important” as Cregger’s other work, or the usual entitlement from RE diehards who are pissed off the fact it isn’t literally set at the same time as RE2 (as it feels like it sort of is/could be, but has modern technology rather than being 90s-set), or just that it doesn’t have Chris, Jill, Leon, etc, in it.
I haven’t been the cinema that much in the last year or two, but seeing as that’s my favourite trip since Weapons, I will await Cregger’s next film with interest - my issues with the logistical consistency of Us notwithstanding, I’d say both he and Jordan Peele are three for three now, and if anything, as much as I love Nope, I’m giving Cregger the edge for now, for me at least.
It it an anniversary or something as I've had loads of XMen clips on the socials..
They're starting to integrate them into the MCU now, with some of the old Fox cast appearing in Avengers Doomsday later in the year, and then a lot of the new MCU casting - for a 2028 X-Men movie - being unveiled last week
The Fox X-Men stuff includes about 3-4 decent movies - that are still often campy or cringey - sandwiched in-between a bunch of others that range from vaguely serviceable through to absolute drivel. I'm always amazed by quite how many there are actually are too, especially if you count the pseudo-spinoffs. The fact that they tried to shoehorn in the Dark Phoenix saga twice and fucked it both times is almost impressive, and I suspect Marvel will try that again eventually, but I hope they take their time getting to it, as it is an iconic storyline, it just needs to be done better.
I am still fond of a lot of it though? Nostalgia is obviously a factor, and Logan still stands apart in terms of quality, but I do still like X2, First Class, Days of Future Past, and the Deadpool moves (for my sins), and while a couple of the rest are genuinely terrible some of the others aren't completely without merit. They've certainly had some excellent set-pieces in there in amongst it all - like Al says, there's Nightcrawler in the White House, and then also those two Quicksilver sequences in the prequels that are probably the biggest standouts besides.
There's that post-credits sequence in Deadpool & Wolverine where they effectively bid a fond farewell to the whole messy Fox years, and I genuinely enjoyed the look back, as well as the song choice - 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)' - as they are something flawed and messy, but I did quite like them.
I've never really been enormously invested in superhero comics, just used to have a few cartoons I would watch as a kid, and then X-Men, Spidey and DC tpbs I used to read (or copy from) as a teen, but the X-Men movies probably got this whole thing superhero going, for better or worse, and then the MCU had me right up until the end of Endgame, partially just because of the 'younger me would've never believed this' element. I am finding myself vaguely interested in how they handle Doomsday/Secret Wars now though, partially because I can see it going a bit awry, but mainly because I think I'm at least a little interested to see how the MCU handles the X-Men in those and going forward, as they seem to be the characters I retain the most fondness for.
JDubYes