Wondering what to do with your upcoming free time? Good thing we have some suggestions for what you should be watching, playing, reading, listening to, etc.
Lauren’s Anime Pick: Delicious in Dungeon – I’m not gonna lie, originally the food porn angle to the show wasn’t a draw for me. Which is why it wasn’t until some Farcille fanart got pushed to my Twitter feed that I finally reconsidered my initial trepidation. I’m still “eh” about the slayed monster cooking segments, but I do love me some earnest heroism, new spins on classic creatures, and good ol’ fashioned dungeon crawling — and I mean crawling (but not in a boring way) considering the leisurely pace of descent through the dungeon’s levels on the way to rescuing someone from a dragon’s slow digestive tract — with DinD’s adventuring party: a girl failure magician with a proficiency in dancing lights, counter spells, familiars, and the old reliable fireball; an exasperated rogue with his keen observational skills, lockpicks, and total disdain for mimics; a monster obsessed fighter with an uncomfortable nipple obsession and the desire to convince others that consuming humanoid creatures is not one step away from cannibalism (both of which I’m comfortable in assuming don’t feature as subclasses or racial traits in the Player’s Handbook); and the dwarven cook, of course, who unexpectedly fits the tragic backstory bill. For me, the show’s charm is in the party dynamics, general allusions to D&D gameplay, and fun (and sometimes surprisingly bloody) combat; but if you’ve always wondered all the ways a basilisk egg can be prepared then boy is this the anime for you!
Ben’s Anime Pick: Pokémon Origins – Origins is something truly special for classic Pokémon fans, as it’s a wonderfully nostalgic adventure for those who grew up with the OG pocket monsters. It’s packed with slick animation that looks great even a decade later, a soundtrack that instantly took me back to my formative gaming years, and a ton of love for the world of Pokémon. All with a sub two-hour runtime too, as it manages to hit all the important story beats from the first games in the legendary franchise (quite the impressive feat considering just how dense Pokémon Red & Blue‘s stories are). This retelling of Red and Charizard’s (yeah, he obviously chose the best starter) story may not be as effective for newcomers, but longtime fans will find plenty to enjoy with what I’d consider one of the best video game adaptations of all time.
Ben’s Movie Warning: Borderlands – As someone who adores the Borderlands games (and enjoys competent filmmaking), this one stings. There are glimpses of Borderlands‘ greatness — some of the set design is pretty solid, Jamie Lee Curtis has a few fun moments as Tannis, and Jack Black’s Claptrap is shockingly on point most of the time — but that’s all the praise I can muster. On the other end of the spectrum there’s Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart who are woefully miscast, and Ariana Greenblatt doesn’t fare much better because she’s given less than nothing to work with. Then you have the frustratingly inconsistent visual effects, action that is immediately forgettable outside of two short set pieces, and a story that feels like it was cobbled together in the editing room. So yeah, this movie is a big fucking bummer.
Ben’s Short Film Pick: Godzilla 8mm – Godzilla 8mm is barely two minutes long, so all I really have to say about it is that it perfectly captures the blend of terror and awe one would feel if they saw a building-sized monster lumbering its way toward them. It is also another great example that giant monsters and found footage work exceptionally well together (when in the right hands). If you’re a fan of either subgenre, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Lauren’s TV Pick: Sweetpea – Honestly Ella Purnell could’ve hung her hat on 2024 with either Fallout or Arcane on their own, but she somehow managed to have not one, not two, but three standout performances in shows all well worth watching. Not quite to the extreme, “she’s just a little guy who has never done a thing wrong in her life” as Jinx — I’m sorry but she’s just so precious and wounded, don’t look at me over all the dead bodies like that — Sweetpea’s Rhiannon is another underappreciated (if at all seen) woman who snaps after the trauma of her youth (and the rage it catalyzes) gets to be too much. The first murder I will bend over backwards to argue could be considered self defense if you squint at it, but eventually her actions become harder and harder to defend as she takes karma into her own hands and makes her revenge fantasies a reality. And even as I was like “girl what are you doing?” I was still, for whatever reason, also like “girl do it better because you will get caught being this sloppy, and we don’t want that” as I eyeballed the high she was riding through more and more unjustifiable actions with exceeding warriness. I can’t explain it. Blame Ella.
So what do you think about these picks? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with these? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about everything (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!
Middle of the Row 