Things are a little quiet in MiSTerland right now so I thought I would take a quick break from retro game preservation news and talk a little bit about some things that I watched over the long weekend provided by the good Duke Nukem. I spent a lot of time with passive entertainment since I didn't feel like starting any new games recently. Don't you want to know what numerical value I would attribute to each one? Of course you do, let's get started.
Ice Road (Netflix) - 6/10
Liam Neeson has a particular set of skills that involve driving big-rig trucks across melting ice. I knew this movie was going to be terrible going into it and I wasn't surprised in the least. I like a movie that knows what it wants to achieve and then does so in a determined and straightforward manner. If you want to see the Neeson stick it to the corporate man with some mindless action, this isn't the worst way to spend a couple hours.
This is Pop (Netflix) - 9/10
A short documentary series covering pop music in the Western world from the early '90s through today with each episode covering a specific subtopic. I love music and I love well made documentaries and this series nails both of those aspects. With great interviews from the people that recorded the music and lived through these stories, "This is Pop" should appeal to anyone that has a passing interest in popular music and culture.
The Tomorrow War (Prime Video) - 6/10
Another big budget summer blockbuster that was a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic on theaters. I feel like this movie would have been better received as a theater release instead of as an exclusive streaming release but here we are. I feel like I enjoyed this alien-blasting near future action romp more than most but again, my expectations were as low as they could get. If Ice Road can be a Netflix tent-pole, then The Tomorrow War deserves a little less hate than it's getting.
Vivarium (Prime Video) - 8/10
This movie took me by complete surprise as a well-crafted small budget sci-fi thriller. Jesse Eisenberg is adequate but Imogen Poots delivers a fantastic performance as usual. This movie feels like an episode of Black Mirror with the suspense of Green Room (Imogen Poots being a co-star also made me think of Green Room throughout). I really enjoyed this dark and twisted tale about brood parasitism, give it a try if you haven't heard of it.
There's a few entertainment reviews to chew on. What did you think of these if you've seen any of them? What have you been watching lately? Let's talk about it in the comments!
