It’s October so we’ve dipped a hesitant toe into the realm of (slightly) scary movies. In this episode, we discuss the pseudo-sequel to Cloverfield.
10 Cloverfield Lane
Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg Produced by: J. J. Abrams, Lindsey Weber Screenplay by: Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, Damien Chazelle Edited by: Stefan Grube Cinematography: Jeff Cutter Music by: Bear McCreary Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
When I watched The Mandalorian last fall, the template for a video game version was apparent almost immediately. Around the same time, I played Jedi: Fallen Order which has so much story potential that a TV adaptation could be amazing. This video explains how those things could be adapted into the other medium.
I’ve had this idea for a while but with Mandalorian Season 2 on the way, a new Star Wars game just released, and rumors of possible Fallen Order DLC, this sure seems like a good time to talk about it since I missed the initial window.
Since the inauspicious conclusion of the “Skywalker Saga”, I’ve been really curious about the direction the franchise will take now that they got their nostalgia-driven movies out of the way. I hope Fallen Order and the Mandalorian are signals about the direction things are headed in because they’re both pretty solid.
The new Microsoft Flight Simulator is an amazing thing. It isn’t magic, but it is frequently magical. Rather than a more straightforward review or discussion of the game, I wanted to make something that was more of a general essay.
In a lot of ways, Flight Simulator transcends normal video games. It’s a way to experience a version of the real world – and realistic aviation if that’s you’re interest. Although I thought about getting a new flight stick (my ancient Logitech Wingman Attack 2 didn’t seem to be working all that well), I ended up being more interesting in touring the world than learning how to fly so the video is entirely “cinematic” – no UI or menus; no in-depth discussion of controls or options. That was a nice change of pace.
Above all, I wanted to put something out into the world that was positive, uplifting, and uniting. It’s been a rough year for just about everyone. Flight Simulator offers a bit of an escape from that while also allowing us to step back and appreciate how far technology has come to simulating and imitating the beauty of nature.
On this episode we attempt to keep things lighthearted by not to talking about this garbage fire of a year, but we can’t totally avoid it. Garbage fires spread. Nevertheless, there’s some good old fashioned random banter, the censorship bleep joke, and also discussion of an obscure nautical term! Truly this episode has it all. All of those things I mentioned.
We braved the theater to see Christopher Nolan’s latest spectacle. Was it worth it?
Tenet
Directed by: Christopher Nolan Produced by: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan Screenplay by: Christopher Nolan Edited by: Jennifer Lame Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema Music by: Ludwig Göransson Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
On this episode we discuss the movie that finally got Leo his Oscar. Is Leo really great in it? Oh, and how’s the actual movie?
The Revenant
Directed by: Alejandro G. Iñárritu Produced by: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon, James W. Skotchdopole Screenplay by: Mark L. Smith, Alejandro G. Iñárritu Based on: The Revenant by Michael Punke Edited by: Stephen Mirrione Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki Music by: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Our discussion of the classic shark attack movie meanders through talk about the filmmaking, Spielberg’s catalog, and fun debate over a theoretical remake.
Jaws
Directed by: Steven Spielberg Produced by: Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown Screenplay by: Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb Edited by: Verna Fields Cinematography: Bill Butler Music by: John Williams Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Inception recently turned 10 and since we can’t see Christopher Nolan’s new movie yet, we thought this was the perfect time to revisit Inception… that dream within a dream… within a dream.
Inception
Directed by: Christopher Nolan Produced by: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan Screenplay by: Christopher Nolan Edited by: Lee Smith Cinematography: Wally Pfister Music by: Hans Zimmer Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Was there supposed to be a 3 month gap between part 1 and 2 of our overlong musical extravaganza? No, absolutely not. Is it worth the wait? Same answer.
Anyway, here we are trying not to sound too pretentious about our favorite music of last decade. It doesn’t go well in that particular regard but stick around until the post-credits if you want to hear some bad Wisconsin accents.
Generally I’ve avoided discussing extremely popular things when the iron is hot. I do this gaming YouTube channel in my spare time “for fun.” Trying to keep up with people who do it “professionally” while still maintaining a level of quality that I’m okay with would be utterly exhausting. But I decided to try my hand at chiming in on the discussion surrounding The Last of Us Part II. We’ll see how this goes.
This was maybe the hardest script I’ve ever written for this channel. The game is long, sprawling, and very ambitious. It’s kind of difficult to talk about because there’s so much there and it isn’t laid out in the most straightforward way. I think I managed to make my points in the end but I’m sure I could have done a better job somehow.
This video ended up being a lot longer than I expected or intended and there’s still a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t touch on at all. I barely talk about the gameplay and, really, the gameplay is not why I played the game so it’s not what I ultimately wanted to talk about. The interesting things to me with this game are story structure, pacing, and when it chooses to reveal information to the player.
Going from Animal Crossing to this was a pretty big change of pace. It’s a super bleak game so while putting the video together was a good challenge, it wasn’t nearly as fun. Next up is something I think will be more fun – at least for me.
Tenet
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