Another month, another round up. A decent range of video games, movies and TV. On we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Super Mario RPG<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact that I finished the main story of this goober in less than five days doesn\u2019t really speak well for its playtime or its difficulty. There isn\u2019t a Hard Mode option, so I just went with the medium option, which was the highest difficulty you can choose. Despite not being overly challenging, it\u2019s a fun little game with great visuals, and you definitely see how it went on to inspire Superstar Saga and the rest of the inspired Mario & Luigi games, even though the green-hatted gent doesn\u2019t get a look in here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plot\u2019s fairly standard Peach-gets-captured fare, but come on, Mario fans don\u2019t come for the intriguing, layered plots, they come for the satisfying gameplay and majestic soundtrack. I have no experience of the original game, but apparently all the original tunes have been updated to a high degree. And Geno\u2019s here. You know, that guy who all the Super Smash Bros stans are always simping for. He is pretty OP, so he\u2019d probably be a good edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, in defence of the game\u2019s lack of difficulty, there is one element which I have yet to conquer. And that\u2019s the 100 Super Jumps shindig. The essential idea is that you have to do this move on an enemy 100 times, but the frame rate gets cheeky after about 13 tries and messes things up. People have said using pro controllers makes things easier, but I\u2019m sitting here with my Switch Lite. Pro controllers ain\u2019t an option, friendo. So for the sake of not sending too many of my blood cells to their deaths, I\u2019m going to leave this challenge alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Napoleon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve heard about Napoleon<\/em>, chances are you\u2019ve heard about Ridley Scott\u2019s angry responses to the film\u2019s various inaccuracies. This man doesn\u2019t care about the haters. Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate, as the Swifties might say. French audiences certainly weren\u2019t impressed. Scott then remarked that the French don\u2019t even like themselves, so wondered why they\u2019d like the movie. Nice one, Scott, a very measured thought process there. He ultimately told people to \u2018Get over it\u2019, apparently. Ok then, if you say so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bearing in mind the various scenes that take place which didn\u2019t actually happen (Napoleon witnessing Mario Antoinette\u2019s execution, Napoleon firing canons at the Pyramids etc), this ahistorical context allows plenty of room for deadpan comedy in between battle scenes, which are certainly outstanding, particularly one brutal sequence where Napoleon takes advantage of his enemies\u2019 unsure footing on a huge sheet of ice. From the moment that Juaquin Phoenix appears to be catching some Zs while a commander updates him on the situation of the war, we can see that Scott can\u2019t be taking his central character that seriously. When he searches for the sword of Josephine\u2019s father to give back to her as a symbolic consolation, he stares at the wide array of weaponry and rhetorically questions: \u2018Did no-one think to attach names to any of them?\u2019 The way he sniffs Josephine\u2019s invitation letter, as well as the comedically brief sex scenes all lend a knowingly unserious element to a man we know little about. When his voiceover declares that he has already conquered Italy, it sounds like the words of a child. If Scott intends the audience to view his film as a serious historical epic, he\u2019s not doing so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time we get onto all of Napoleon\u2019s food quotes, it\u2019s hard not to think of Monty Python. When he dismisses one of his men with a guarantee of no dessert, I thought of John Cleese\u2019s elderberries reprimand as he stands indignantly in his high tower. Mentions of succulent breakfasts brought to mind an entirely different YouTube clip known as \u2018Succulent Chinese Meal\u2019 involving a certain foul mouthed Australian guy, but that\u2019s probably too niche to get into right now. Anyway, the film is full comedic touches which surely must be intentional. Napoleon lets off an f-bomb as he has a dramatic stair fall, a temper tantrum with the English over boats and a self-righteous gloat in the vein of There Will be Blood<\/em>\u2019s Daniel Plainview as he triumphantly announces that destiny is responsible for the lamp chop he is about to consume. Scott isn\u2019t exactly a stranger to camp in his historical fare, particularly thinking of Ben Affleck\u2019s performance in Scott\u2019s previous epic, The Last Duel<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re going into this looking for a compelling historical epic, you won\u2019t get it. Two hours and forty minutes pass, but you won\u2019t learn anything about the man in question despite the outstandingly choreographed battle scenes. If you\u2019re looking for a black comedy, however, you\u2019ll find plenty of metaphorical lamb chops on which to chew and chortle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kin (Season 1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wasn\u2019t aware of this series until it popped up as a suggestion on IPlayer recently, but I\u2019m glad I found it. Originally aired exclusively on RTE, it follows the Kinsellas as they become embroiled in gang warfare after members on each side are murdered. Stacked with a stylish synth soundtrack and an equally impressive cast, family tensions come to the fore as members attempt to deal with the fallout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s hard to get too far into the plot without ruining things. It\u2019s great to see a combination of acting aficionados and relatively new talent. Ciar\u00e1n Hinds, who plays big bad Eamon Cunningham, is compelling whether he\u2019s playing a rebel leader in Game of Thrones<\/em> or quieter parts in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy<\/em>, and roles which essentially amount to cameos in films like In Bruges<\/em>. He knows how to do a lot by doing very little, and if you\u2019ve been following my blog for a bit, you know that\u2019s the kind of acting style I really appreciate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aiden Gillan, another Thrones <\/em>alumni, also makes a welcome appearance as Kingsler gang leader Frank, whose reign is threatened as his family start playing for the top position. Seeing Charlie Cox take the lead as the quiet but deadly Michael Kinsella, who comes home to the clan from prison after committing a mysterious crime, was a nice relief. Cox didn\u2019t get the recognition he deserved after his breakout role in Stardust<\/em>, although he\u2019s already proved he can do a solid Irish accent in Boardwalk Empire<\/em>, and is more than capable in the action department with his eponymous role in Daredevil<\/em>, the best long-running Netflix (now Disney) Marvel superhero series by a long shot. He’s Kin<\/em>\u2019s beating heart for most of the series as he tries to reconnect with estranged daughter Anna amidst the carnage. Season two has already been released in full on RTE and BBC definitely has the rights, so hopefully I\u2019ll be able to binge that soon as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takeshi\u2019s Castle, Episode 1 (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah, heck. Takeshi\u2019s Castle<\/em> was a stone cold classic. Slapstick has always been a favourite comedy genre of mine, and Takeshi<\/em> never disappointed. Watching people fail as they tried to scale muddy surfaces, step on every stepping stone or get yeeted out of a zumo ring (I don\u2019t think the word \u2018yeet\u2019 existed back then, but never mind) by far superior adversaries was my comedic bread and butter, with Craig Charles\u2019 manic commentary always contributing to the lols. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Admittedly, things are a bit different this time around. Charles is unfortunately gone, and the commentary banter from Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Davies doesn\u2019t work quite as well, but it\u2019s acceptable. The slapstick elements still make me laugh, although some parts of the show seem way too difficult (putting booby trapped stones in the stepping stones round? Wasn\u2019t that challenge difficult enough already?). Equally, some parts of the show seem inappropriately nice (giving honourary fighter awards to some players in order to keep them in the game? That\u2019s probably because you lost too many people in the stepping stones round because…that shiz is too difficult).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s still fun to watch as a spectacle, despite the fact that the digital head of Takeshi is somewhat disconcerting, and vaguely reminds me of the digital head in Dr Kawashima\u2019s Brain Training on Nintendo DS (sadly I couldn\u2019t keep manically clicking it to annoy the head though). Also, stopping the episode halfway through the challenges and finishing the rest of \u2018em in the second episode? C\u2019mon now, you should be able to edit events more efficiently into one episode. Anyway, entertaining enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another month, another round up. A decent range of video games, movies and TV. 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