Archives 2024

Next Goal Wins is based on a true story about the American-Samoa football team and their attempts at a comeback.

Next Goal Wins in the latest biopic in theaters, this time centered around the American-Samoa team. The team is most known for their game that they lost with a devastating 31-0. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching they hire a coach with the intention of bringing them a victory. The premise, while true sounds exactly like that of one of my childhood favorites- Cool Runnings. Searchlight Studios and Director Taika Waititi spearheaded the project with top billing going to Michael Fassbender who plays Coach Rongen. To clarify, this is a film about a football team and not the NFL kind.

Sports movies or shows typically fall flat for me, that is unless they are full of humor. Cool Runnings and Shoresy being two of my favorites, for very different reasons and styles of course. I also am typically a fan of every film Waititi has been tied to so my hopes were higher than normal for this one. I found the film fall a little short in terms of hilarity but it was still quite enjoyable. The story was well told and I felt you got a better understanding of the characters than most other directors would have managed with the same story. If you are looking for a film to watch as a family about an underdog you want to root for then this will be a great choice for you.

In Fearmonium from Ratalaika Games you play a Phobia of a young boy, collecting and defeating his fears.

The folks at Ratalaika Games have deviated from their normal platform of simply restoring vintage titles and have added Fearmonium to their ever growing library. Max is a teen plagued by fears and phobias. You play as one of these phobias and are on a quest to help Max not only overcome his fears but to embrace some of them. Let’s face it, a little fear can be healthy at times.

The game is a Metroidvania, meaning a platformer in the style of Metroid or Castlevania, where you move through various parts of Max’s mind, eliminating the things that plague him while also collecting balloons as currency. The art style looks like it was hand-drawn like Cuphead with a similar macabre style where the more hideous things in Max’s head are actually there to assist you. Reviewing the details about the game I can confirm that it is hand-drawn. Unlike Cuphead though is that the story is primarily told through comic book-styled panels.

Lady Depression runs most of the nightmare-scape that is Max’s head and assists you from time to time by providing advice. More often than not though, the advice is simply to remind you save the game often. The phobia you play as looks very much like a female version of Pennywise in the art but in game looks less like the terrible clown and more like clown that is meant to look more sad and painted in predominantly blacks and whites. I found the stages to be rather simple in their layout with sections clearly meant to return to with no obvious way of reaching them but otherwise quite easy to navigate. The art is clean and draws you in to the darkness as you eliminate every foe in your path. The game as a whole was enjoyable but not entirely engaging in terms of story. That being said, it may just be that I haven’t spent enough time in the game but it felt like it was lacking in overall substance even though most Metroidvanias are focused more on the mechanics than they are on story.

What are the Consequences of Gaming too much as a child? What effects does it have when the game is also violent? The latest episode of Extended Family looks at just that.

NBC’s new sitcom, Extended Family, centers around a family that co-parents (Jim and Julia) and take an unconventional look at divorce. The children live in a single apartment and the parents are the ones that change homes each week. That sounds like it would make for a much more stable environment for the kids at the very least. Julia does however bring her fiancé around frequently. Previous episodes introduce the rules that govern the family and how rigid they are, taking everyone into account. Conceptually I thought this was a great idea when the parents could get along. The third episode, The Consequences of Gaming, attempts to use it’s 22 minutes of running time to focus on the negative effects of violent gaming on children.

During the changing of the guard, during a longer period with the children than normal for Jim, he admits to allowing the children’s devices to watch them more than he did due to his own exhaustion. Being a parent is exhausting, I get it but the show makes it seem like being a parent is nearly impossible over the course of 14 days, especially when the children already seem to be self sufficient most of the time. I understand that doing it all by yourself can be too much at times but if the show is going to portray the kids as these exhausting energy sucking vampires then we need to see more out of the kids in the story. When calling Jimmy Jr in for dinner his father admits that he played his video games unattended for almost the entirety of the previous day because he was too tired to parent. When Julia overhears some of the violent phrases coming from their son she gets quite worried.

When I was asked to review this episode I was expecting a discussion of the effects of gaming on children and the perceived violence that can come from it. Instead we are given a couple jokes, it is a comedy after all, and the lesson the parents learn is to distract the children with fears instead. I feel like the show greatly missed the mark on what could have been a discussion on how a child still needs a parent to actually parent at times and to have open dialogue. Three episodes into this show and I feel the writing is aimed more at producing situations for witty one-liners that fall flat with an even worse delivery. The only saving grace WAS the violent comments delivered by Finn Sweeny, his delivery seemed to be the best of the cast. The trailers for the series looked promising but if we don’t get much improvement and soon this is one viewer who will change the channel.