Tag: Film

Shield of Tomorrow – Beginning my Star Trek Education

Trekucation? Nah. Treducation? Nope. Trekkie Initiation? Nell no. Oh well, I’ll figure out a clever name at some point!

I’ve never been a Star Trek fan, for a variety of reasons, from finding Roddenberry’s vision of the future unappealing, partly because it seems disturbingly militaristic, and the other part because it’s often portrayed as so idyllic (no crime, no poverty, no ignorance, everyone is good and happy and want for nothing) that it’s bland. It’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed some Star Trek media. I really liked Deep Space 9, what I saw of it, because I liked how much the stories were personal, about the characters and how flawed and human they were, compared to those of other series in the same universe–and of course, the Rules of Acquisition. I’ve also enjoyed the recent Star Trek Discovery and even the oft maligned Enterprise, mostly because Doctor Phlox was pure joy to watch.  Continue reading Shield of Tomorrow – Beginning my Star Trek Education

Review: Tomb Raider (2018)

I went to see Tomb Raider during the weekend. I suspected it would be a terrible film, not just because everything shown so far gave me that impression but because it’s a video game adaptation and they’re usually terrible.

But nothing prepared me for just how bad this film is. On the surface it’s a workable adventure film, full of action sequences to keep you entertained, and the set pieces are great, they’re impressive in fact. The problem is that nothing else is. Continue reading Review: Tomb Raider (2018)

Favourite Japanese Media Tropes – Main Theme Insert

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of Japanese television series, from anime to Live action series and I’ve come to realise that the tropes we often refer to as “Anime Tropes” are predominant across all Japanese media, with some of it even crossing over into the world of gaming. Continue reading Favourite Japanese Media Tropes – Main Theme Insert

DC Animated: Violent Hypocrisy

When you think of the DC Cinematic universe, a few things come to mind. There are the disjointed and messy films, the ambitious ideas of building a working universe like that of Marvel Comics but rushing to do so, without taking the time to let it happen organically through the origin stories, and of course the constant need to reshoot films to take out jokes or put a few in, or go in completely different directions from the original artistic view of its creators.

But another thing that comes to mind is the amount of controversies on the violence of its heroes, on the level of destruction and death they leave in their wake. A point that often comes up is the killing of Zod in Man of Steel and how that goes against all the character stands for. Continue reading DC Animated: Violent Hypocrisy

Awesomeness in March

March 2017 might be the most kickass month of this year.

Ok, maybe it’s a stretch considering it’s very early in 2017 and there’s lots of things to come, but March is surely bringing a lot of cool things that I’m really excited about…and a few others for which I’m less than thrilled, but I won’t go into them, mostly because it’s about politics, bonehead decisions and more politics.

So, let’s move into why I’m so excited about March 2017: Continue reading Awesomeness in March

Best of 2016 – The Mental Attic

As I said a couple of days ago, next week is going to be a week off from content on the site and its various channels, as I need a bit of a holiday to recharge for the next year.

I also said in the past that I don’t do Best Game/Film/Series/Anime/Plushie/Gunpla of the year because I think they’re shortsighted at best.

But with how strange this year has been–there’s a reason Merriam Webster chose “surreal” as the word of the year–I decided it might be a good idea to look back at some of the best moments in the year for myself and the site. So join me in this little trip down memory lane for a very strange year! Continue reading Best of 2016 – The Mental Attic

Mobile Suit Gundam: My Favourites Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about my first Gunpla build and a week later I wrote a primer about it on GeekOut South-West. In the coming weeks not only will I build more models, possibly record or broadcast the process, but also write another “primer” but this one on the overall Gundam franchise.

With that in mind I thought it would be great if I spoke to you about my favourite Gundam series. To date, I have watched most if not all the series in the franchise, from the Universal Century ones to even the Gundam Build Fighters series, the one that inspired me to get into Gunpla in the first place.

Yesterday I gave you the first few entries into my list of favourite Gundam, here are the rest (that I can think of at the moment): Continue reading Mobile Suit Gundam: My Favourites Part 2

Mobile Suit Gundam: My Favourites! – Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about my first Gunpla build and a week later I wrote a primer about it on GeekOut South-West. In the coming weeks not only will I build more models, possibly record or broadcast the process, but also write another “primer” but this one on the overall Gundam franchise.

With that in mind I thought it would be great if I spoke to you about my favourite Gundam series/movies/OVAs. To date, I have watched most if not all the series in the franchise, from the Universal Century ones to even the Gundam Build Fighters series, the one that inspired me to get into Gunpla in the first place.

Let’s get to it. I’ll keep the descriptions as short as possible, as I don’t want to spoil too much!

There is no order in these recommendations. This is not a top 5 or something like that. Also, assume that any sequel is worth watching as well: Continue reading Mobile Suit Gundam: My Favourites! – Part 1

Star Wars: Igniters – Time for a Revamp

I think if you check this site for five minutes, you’ll probably come across a couple dozen articles that at least mention Star Wars. It’s a big deal for me, one of my favourite franchises and one where I’ve lost hours on, both reading or in other ways consuming stories or making up my own, be it for RPGs or just simple daydream.  Continue reading Star Wars: Igniters – Time for a Revamp

Jokes, Fiction and Horror – My Favourite Documentaries

I know, documentaries, here? Me? Isn’t it all supposed to be silly stories and games? Most of the time yes, but I do like my occasional documentary, either telling me a bit of history or culture that I didn’t know about (I do love learning about new places and people) or speaking of an interesting or controversial subject.

Now, I won’t bore you with the dozen of World War documentary series I’ve enjoyed over the years, particularly while discussing with my brother-in-law how you could make films out of some of the tales. Well, ok, I’ll tell you about one. There’s a documentary on spies on American Netflix where you could make the ultimate action movie just pulling the many one-liners the spies supposedly said while doing their awesome stuff. I honestly can’t remember the name, but any of them are worth watching!

With that out of the way, let’s talk about my five favourite documentaries. This list isn’t in any particular order, by the way. I can’t really decide which among these I like the best. Continue reading Jokes, Fiction and Horror – My Favourite Documentaries