When the Gran Turismo Movie was first announced, I was quite certain that I wasn’t the only one who let out an exasperated “what?!” How were Columbia Pictures and PlayStation Productions going to make a full-length film about a racing game that, historically, doesn’t have a story? It turns out they could, and they did. I’ve never been so glad to have been proven wrong, because the Gran Turismo Movie is actually really great and definitely worth a watch, whether you’re a fan of the series or not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5bV3p1Ui4k Before we dive into the movie, what exactly is Gran Turismo? As a brief backgrounder, Gran Turismo is a racing simulation video game series for the PlayStation, with the first game being released on the PlayStation 1 back in 1997. The series was created by Kazunori Yamauchi and was made to simulate or emulate the appearance and performance of real-world vehicles…
In case you haven’t watched Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in theaters yet, we have one question – why? Tom Cruise has been at it since 1996, and this time around, it seems like he hasn’t aged a day. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (we’ll just refer to it as Dead Reckoning Part One) is the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible movie series, which is based on the 1966 TV series of the same name. Dead Reckoning Part One continues the storyline of 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout as we see Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) leading what is left of his IMF team – Luther (Ving Rhames), and Benji (Simon Pegg) – as they face off with an all-powerful villain called “The Entity,” which is seemingly Ethan Hunts’ most fearsome adversary yet. And when I say face off I do mean a lot of faces…
Street Fighter 6 Review Street Fighter 6 is the latest mainline entry in the long-running series from Capcom. Coming from a relatively lackluster 5th entry back in 2016, the company took its time, and with all its learnings over the years, we now have a title that has improved by leaps and bounds. Just getting it out of the way – Street Fighter 6 looks absolutely amazing. Its vibrant theme and graffiti-laden artwork do wonders for how matches play out, and with the inclusion of rollback netcode, online matches are smoother than ever. That said, did Capcom knock it out of the park with Street Fighter 6 to claim the title of best fighting game of 2023? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EnsDg6DCTE Street Fighter 6 has the basics down pat, but that doesn’t stop it from introducing new features that really elevate the experience for fans and newcomers. Mainly, the game introduces the new…
From the same animation studio that brought us The Promised Neverland, My Dress-Up Darling, and Spy x Family to name a few, we get a slice-of-life anime that’s as fun to listen to as it is to watch – Bocchi the Rock! Bocchi the Rock! is a series from CloverWorks that premiered late last year and tells the story of a girl named Hitori Gotou, a super introverted middle-school girl who finds it hard to talk to others and make friends in school, and is scared to deal with crowds. One day, she sees a rock band being interviewed on TV which she thought was cool and made her decide to learn the guitar and become a rock musician in order to make friends. Fast forward a couple of years. Bocchi is now in high school, has learned how to play the guitar, and has a very successful online channel (under…
It took a while, but Shazam is finally back in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. This is the much-awaited sequel to the surprisingly fun 2019 installment and is the last movie before the vision of now-DC Studios CEO James Gunn starts to materialize. Family isn’t usually a word I’d use to describe something that’s not related to The Fast and the Furious, but it perfectly encapsulates what the film is all about. It’s fun but also emotional, and a number of heartfelt moments really make the film shine, warts and all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvZSRT2Mqr0 To the uninitiated, Shazam (Zachary Levi) is about a boy named Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his foster siblings who transform into superheroes when they shout the name “Shazam!” – an acronym for six heroes each giving them a certain power: Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and Speed…
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us has come a long way. Ever since it was first released for the PlayStation 3, the series has gone on to win the hearts of critics and players worldwide through its superb performances and masterful storytelling. It’s no surprise that the game, after all of its accolades, has been turned into a drama series by HBO. Written and executive produced by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann, the hype level for the show is off the charts, and fans of the series can finally experience this via HBO GO as it goes live today. Just last weekend, we were given the chance to join a private screening of the nearly 80-minute first episode and we found ourselves not only wanting more but also mind-blown at how much more than a 1:1 adaptation it is. Without spoiling it for anybody (the game is almost a…