An amazing feature that I'm carrying over from my super old blog, things that were good! In which I write small amounts on things that I thought were good from the month.
Games
Kentucky Route Zero This is a point-and-click adventure game told in a weirdly minimalist, artsy manner. It's very atmospheric and being released episodically with the first two episodes already out and three more on the way. You mostly play as a trucker who gets lost making a delivery and is told to take the eponymous Route Zero to get to his location. It's described by the developers as a "magical realist adventure game" but that doesn't really mean much. It's very good.
No One Lives Forever I hadn't played this before but I've been meaning to for literally 10 years. I finally got around to it and was unimpressed :( It's very dated in both gameplay and level design. This came out 2 years after Half Life and I'm shocked that the level design is still so Doom-esque with confusing corridor systems and no attempt to ground the layout in reality. I haven't finished it but I plan on going back and seeing if it gets better.
Movies
Fast and Furious 6 The Fast and Furious movies have become the absolute perfect level of stupid. It's insane to think that the 6th entry in a film franchise would be so good. It's not quite as amazing as 5 but it is 1000% more stupid. Also the post-credits scene sets up 7 to be the best of the lot. I can't wait!
Pitch Black I saw this back in the day and thought it was OK, saw it now and thought it was OK. This film is really low budget, especially when compared with the overblown sequel. There are a few clever parts, and I love the nihilistic message, so overall it's good.
Chronicles of Riddick This I hadn't seen before. It was terrible, and not in a good way. I watched this back to back with Pitch Black, it's weird how the two have nothing in common. Sequels tend to be similar to the original, this is stupid, poorly written, poorly direction action movie; Pitch Black was a low budget horror film.
Man of Steel I was expecting to hate this from what I'd heard of it but I really liked the first two thirds. I thought there were good performances, the writing wasn't stupid and it made me like Superman, something I've never done before. Then the film enters the third act and it turns infuriatingly stupid and I understand exactly why people hated it. Even with all the idiocy it was a much better film then I expected, hopefully the sequel with Batman fixes the problems.
Books
Fiend Thinking I was tired of zombie fiction this book didn't really interest me at first glance. Then I saw some glowing reviews for it so gave it a chance and finished it in two sittings. It starts with a generic zombie plot, over night most of the world's population turns into zombies, but adds a cool twist: the only people who don't zombify are those high on crystal meth. The survivors have to keep using because if they get clean they'll zombie. The entire book follows a standard zombie plot but all of the characters being meth addicts certainly feels original. The ending is super great, you'll see it coming from a mile away but that doesn't lessen the impact. Great book!
Music
Au4 A really cool post-rock/ambient band, sort of like Tool but less sad. They have both of their albums for free download on their website and I'd really recommend them. The opening track from their second ablum, Everyone is Everyone (and Everything is Everything), is the song that got me on to them after it was used in a TV show and it's probably my favourite track of the album. It goes to lots of different musical places and gives a nice primer on everything the band is about.
Matt Berry - Kill the Wolf I really like Matt Berry's previous albums with their mix of prog and folk, but Kill the Wolf feels like a letdown. His past album's explored lots of different musical spaces whereas Kill the Wolf seems to hone in on gothic folk. Devil Inside Me is the only track that I can see on Youtube so that's what I shall link. It's not a bad album, but it's also not an interesting one.
TV
Venture Bros Season 5 of the Venture Bros has ended and it was excellent. It was a bit short at only 8 episodes, it goes up to 9 if you count the Halloween special from last year, but I would say it's the most consistent run of episodes they've ever done. I love that this show is constantly changing, it doesn't like to make things easy on itself. Writing an awesome character out of a show because it would be a tad contrived to keep them around is something I never see other shows do, but Venture Bros did that with Brock, and it's led to an awesome place for the show to be in. It sucks it will probably be 2 years before more episodes, but if they keep this quality I shall be happy. SPANAKOPITA!
Top of the Lake A drama/mystery miniseries released earlier in the year, this is lovely. It's set in a rural village in New Zealand and is about a 12-year-old girl who is found to be pregnant, then disappears. It's full of good actors doing lots of good acting at each other, with a great script and great direction. Some of the plot is a bit too forced, and I didn't like how neatly some things get cleared up at the end, but it was mostly outstanding. For a dark and depressing series like this, the hilarious lesbian commune run by the crazy lady was so out of place but was played so brilliantly it all fit in nicely.
That is it for July! Welcome August!
Transparency! It took me 2 weeks to notice the text wasn't justified so have now edited it.
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