Got some free time and wondering what to watch, play, listen to, etc.? Well we have some suggestions for you!
Lauren’s Podcast Pick: A Funny Feeling – With Bizarre States still on hiatus, I’ve had to venture elsewhere to fill the emptied roster slot on my paranormal podcast playlist. I’ve got my educationally scripted go-to Lore, I’ve been going through the backlog of the conversationally anecdotal Bigfoot Collector’s Club, and thanks to guest appearances on the latter by Marcy Jarreau and Betsy Sodaro, I’ve been burning through the 80+ spooky story filled episodes of the podcast these two host together, A Funny Feeling. Much like Sodaro (whose active listening interjections of ‘ew” and “gross” and “I just got chills” are a constant source of joy alongside Jarreau’s steadfast belief and confidence towards what’s lurking in the shadows), my horror loving self is ecstatic about the lack of personal encounters with anything that goes bump in the night. I would not survive it. But I will happily live vicariously through others from a safe distance, before going to bed with the hallway light left on. You’d think that I’d have learned to stick to daylight listening after the first few nights, but I haven’t. I gotta get my spooks!
Ben’s Movie Pick: Battleship – Even though the story is only a small step above the titular board game’s non-existent one (still far more coherent than any of Bay’s Transformers sequels that I’ve seen though), and it has so much in-your-face patriotism that it could make Uncle Sam sick, I still had a great time watching Battleship. Between its balls-to-the-wall naval action, hilariously hammy dialogue, and clichéd but charming characters, there’s never a dull moment in its two hour-plus runtime. I can’t call it a “good” movie, but I also can’t say I didn’t have a whole lot of fun watching it. In fact, Rihanna delivering one of the greatest, cheesiest one-liners in cinematic history is almost worth the rental price alone.
Lauren’s Video Game Pick: Bloodborne – With the combination of my peaked interest in the newly released game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice‘s and my lack of funds (thank’s surgery!), I did the next best thing to slashing around Japan as a samurai sword wielding warrior as I healed: I slashed around a beast filled, gothic cityscape as a monster slayer in Bloodborne, a PlayStation exclusive that has been collecting dust in my unplayed games collection for a while now. This Dark Souls comparable game was as difficult as I expected it to be; fortunately exploring (and let’s face it, repeatedly grinding my way through) the setting was fun enough to keep hitting my head against the wall when some of the numerous boss battles filled the rage meter. It just took me a bit longer than expected because after a night of playing I’d end up taking a week or so off just to recover from the stress-filled uphill struggle. Which could be why I have absolutely no recollection of what the game was actually about. Monsters, crying babies, and a massive full moon thats engorged circumference was a constant reminder of the 0% understanding I had for the actual story; that’s about all I took away in regard to this world. One thing I was sure of, though, was there was blood. Lots and lots of blood.
P.S. – The thing that finally made me rage quit this game came when I sat down to play Bloodborne‘s DLC. In order to initiate it you have to travel to a location you come to 10-15 hours into the game. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except that I’d just beaten the game, which automatically sends you right back to the start with a New Game +. In other words I’d have to go through a decent chunk of the game just to get to that location once more. I mean, I liked the game, but I didn’t like it that much… Apparently this is how FromSoftware does their DLC for all their games, and I shake my first at them for it.
Ben’s Video Game Pick: Final Fantasy VII – FFVII is my favorite video game of all time, and with Square Enix confirming more news about the upcoming remake at E3 next month, I decided to replay it yet again. The PS4 port from a few years back is now on the Switch and Xbox One too, bringing the same fixes and options/cheats that help alleviate some of the problems that come with a 22 year-old game. These features can be toggled on or off to make battles and some conversations move much faster, eliminate random enemy encounters, and if you’re just in it for the story, constantly have full health and limit breaks (super moves) to make mandatory battles a breeze. If you haven’t played this masterpiece before, I urge you to give it a try.
Ben’s TV Pick: Good Omens – Amazon’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel is one of the most entertaining and funny mini-series I’ve seen in years. The bromance between David Tennant’s demonic Crowley and Michael Sheen’s angelic Aziraphale is an absolute delight, all the other characters they cross paths with as they rush to find a misplaced Antichrist to prevent armageddon are almost as endearing as well, and Frances McDormand is fantastic when delivering humorous exposition through her narration. If you enjoy the wry sense of humor similar to either of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy adaptations, you should put Good Omens on your Amazon Video watchlist immediately.
Ben’s Movie Pick: The Nice Guys – Shane Black’s best film is a frantic, fun action flick, an intriguing murder mystery, and an absolutely hysterical buddy comedy all rolled into one. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are, in my humble opinion, the greatest buddy comedy pairing of all-time, making me laugh so hard I cried multiple times, and this was my fourth or fifth viewing of it. It’s a damn shame that The Nice Guys flopped at the box office, killing any hopes of a big-budget sequel film; hopefully the female-led TV spin-off lives up to this comical crime caper.
Ben’s Anime Pick: The Rising of the Shield Hero – My favorite new anime series of 2019 (so far) is slowly approaching its finale, and if it maintains the same quality in its action sequences, humor, animation, and emotional beats from here on out it’ll end up as one of the best in recent years. Aside from the one-sided romances and a premiere that got too dark, it’s been a total blast, and I’ve got my fingers crossed for a season two sting at the end of the “final” episode.
Ben’s TV Pick: Swamp Thing‘s Premiere – While it’s too early to tell if the entire season will be worth watching, the pilot of Swamp Thing is the best live-action entertainment that DC has produced in quite some time (sorry, Arrowverse fans). The premiere sets up an engaging mystery filled with swamps, eerie vibes, genuine scares, and unsettling body horror. I’m legitimately impressed with how dark the tone of Swamp Thing is, and how faithful it is regarding the horror-themed nature (pun intended) of the titular Elemental’s comics. If the next nine episode’s visual effects, acting, pacing and writing are comparable to the first, this might end up being my favorite new series this year.
So what do you think of these suggestions? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with our chosen selection? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about all the content (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!
And while you’re here, be sure to check out our two most recent podcast episodes on 10 Things I Hate About You and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.
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