The Toad's Burrow

      I have finally finished this game. I'm going to be honest it took me a while to finish and commit to the entire game. Even after finishing and enjoying it, it's a very slow burn, and frankly your choices don't feel like they matter that much in this game. It is very much what I'd describe as a visual novel in the sense that you're basically just there for witness a story. Even still, this game was, surprisingly good? I mean this game is given out for free all of the time, and all things considered, if you like games in this genre (which I clearly do), why not give it a try? So let's talk about it.     I know the first thing that people are going to point out is the whole transgender aspect of this game, to which I say it's really not that big of a deal. While it certainly is a discussed aspect of the game, I feel like the stronger theme of this video game is just about trauma, and how it can affect different people. Like I'd argue Alyson definitely...

      You know what? I don't know what changes they let Tim Burton do from the last film to this one, but I have to say Batman Returns  is pretty much exactly what I had wanted and expected. That's not to say I predicted everything in this film, it's pretty stupid in a great way. But also, it's just kind of funny, and that's all I needed it to be. It was never going to fulfill some comic-book fantasy of mine being as accurate or epic as possible, especially not with the way Batman's neck never moves still, but it managed to turn up the camp. Which means you go from Batman  (1989) which was fine, albeit a little boring, to this, where Danny Devito's fatsuit looks worse and worse the more clothes he takes off, I have no idea what's up with Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, and well this entire movie is just ridiculous in a good way. Let's talk about it.     You could feel the change almost immediately. Instead of generic goons, the opening scene involv...

      I'll be honest I wasn't expecting much from this film. That's not to say I heard it was bad but as someone whose a pretty avid comic reader and has seen three separate continuity Batman films since then, I just doubted it was going to be a film I would really see as superior. Was it really going to beat the Reeves movie or the Nolan Trilogy? Absolutely not. But I remembered it as corny, and frankly if it could win on any ground it would have been that. Did I think it was absolutely gut-punchingly funny? No. Did I think it was bad or awful? Also no. I think it wasn't some boring bog-standard Batman origin story, but it was just kind of campy, for better or for worse. Let's talk about it.      To start off with the good. The acting in this movie was better than I expected? Perhaps that's just because a part of me pictures Michael Keaton as old, so I could never really see him as Batman, but he was surprisingly good as a Bruce Wayne. Maybe not as charmin...

      I'm going to be honest. I had no intention of watching this film today, though I do remember enjoying watching the first film in theaters all those years ago. Honestly, considering how hungry Disney feels for sequels and franchising, I'm surprised this film wasn't made sooner, I do not remember the first Zootopia  film being almost 10 years ago. Even still, I have to admit this film impressed me, which is really a big surprise in my eyes, especially when you consider that this film takes place practically a month after the first film. And also, they somehow managed to make this film about racism again? At a certain point, you have to start questioning it. So let's talk about it.     Let's start off with what I didn't like, which is surprisingly minimal. On one hand, I think the way they tried to highlight the differences between Judie and Nick was good, and important since they literally did one job together. I do think that both of their opposing vie...

      After about ~50ish hours or so, I can confidently say I've done everything worth doing in Pokemon Legends: ZA  (not including collecting all of the final screws or the shiny charm because frankly both are there to just waste me time). I'm going to be honest, when this game first came out, I saw quite a few people dogging on it, and so I tried my hardest to enjoy this game as much as I could when I first started out. The issue is, the haters were kind of right. I'm not saying this is a bad game, but considering it's predecessor, I would call it far from a roaring success, more like a sophomore slump from a franchise that needs to figure out what the hell they want Pokemon to be about, because there seems to be a bit of an identity crisis, let's talk about it.     Though on a quick tangent I swore I wrote a review for Pokemon Legends: Arceus  when it came out and I was going to read it again before writing this one but I can't find it so I guess no...

     Sadly for Mr. Malcom Todd, this album comes in a time in my life where I feel like I'm currently listening to less pop than usual generally. Though Indie Pop and Indie were my third and fourth most listened to genre's this year, punk, rock and emo music have largely dominated my music tastes this year. That's not to say I don't enjoy or listen to pop music anymore, it's just that I've found myself being a bit pickier, being less lenient towards pop music that might have felt a bit derivative, but were still catchy enough to justify my attention. The reason I say all of this is because frankly prior to this album any Malcolm Todd song I listened to sounded just fine, and that's it. Not to say I don't know people who listen to him, my brother enjoys his music and so does my friend Bleed. Still, even with relatively good ratings on sites like RYM and AOTY I was skeptical. Though I will still try, so without further ado, my track-by-track review. Malcol...

      I don't get it. Not in the sense that I don't understand the themes about what Chinatown is supposed to represent in this movie or the whole thing about how Gittes is so incapable of inflicting change because of the larger powers at play. But is this movie supposed to be good? I'm not even going to write more than like a paragraph for this review. I just don't have enough to say about it. Unironically the most impactful scene to me was when Gittes had his nose cut by Claude because I was just trying to imagine how much it hurt and it seemed that painful. Maybe my tolerance for older films is just lower but I just didn't find this film that interesting. I didn't even know anything about Roman Polanski or what he did to minors until after I finished watching this film. I just don't like it. I mean it's kind of interesting for most of it, if albeit a bit on the boring side, but then it just feels like it ends kind of abruptly and the whole incest thin...

          It is time for me to once again speak on a genre I don't listen to that much and say that I don't like a critically acclaimed album as much as I should. I'd argue that you should blame my friend Omaid for this who recommended this record even though I swear I've never even heard him talk about it at all. Either way, I thought I might as well give it a shot. After all, I did enjoy the track Smooth   Operator  by Sade but I came into this review with a relatively clean slate clear of any biases. Except for one. I don't know how to put this but as someone who enjoys pop music I am simply just not impressed with the majority of sophistipop. Don't get me wrong I love That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware, but I was surprised to find that most of her previous work was in that slower range of pop genres, and the hit rate just wasn't as high. Either way, this album was rated highly enough to give it a fair shake, so without further ado, my track-by-t...

    I don't know how to rate this film. It just kind of confuses me. I'm not saying that it's necessarily a bad film. I didn't hate it, but it feels conflicted and confused. There are just a lot of things happening at once, and I'm just not quire sure if this film knows what it wants to be or how to do a proper balancing act. Because what viewers are left with is an entertaining film no doubt, but one that feels less focused in general as it tried to wrap things up. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the concept, I think it's entertaining to have a fresher take on what seems like a story ingrained within western culture, but does this musical go about it the right way? Let's talk about it.     I cannot talk about this film any further without talking about the weird tonal shifts that are constantly happening in this film. Part of the fact is that this film is a musical, and for a good musical you want a healthy dose of dancing and singing to make it more lively...