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.
Ben’s Movie Marathon Pick: Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers & Predator: Badlands – Any time Dan Trachtenberg shares the next step of the Predator franchise you can call me “an elite special forces unit in a Central American jungle, circa 1987,” because I am game. First he gave us Prey, a back-to-basics brawl on Earth following the Comanche warrior Naru, the best hero since Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then we were blessed with Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated anthology that answers the question “how cool would it be if a Predator fought a ninja?” (spoiler: very cool), set to some pretty awesome world/universe building. Now we have Badlands, a film that flips the script by giving us a Predator protagonist, Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). The latter is easily Trachtenberg’s biggest swing yet, and it pays off with a gnarly and occasionally funny adventure that gives a little humanity to one of the ugliest motherfuckers we’ve been rooting against for nearly forty years. It has never been a better time to be a Yautja fan than it is now.
Lauren’s Podcast Pick: Good Hang with Amy Poehler – It’s been a minute since I’ve added a new podcast to my list of regular listens — I am so behind on all of my movie, paranormal, and science shows (ok so I just have Ologies for science, but I had to throw that in so you’d respect me again after mentioning the supernatural) as is — but I couldn’t not listen to Amy Poehler’s podcast after regularly seeing clips of her having the best time and conversations with her guests. Obviously the episodes with her friends and fellow SNL alums (Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Rachel Dratch, etc.) are gonna be great — the anecdotal memories and laughs the improvisationally skilled comedians bring out of each other had me laughing enough that Kyle would regularly ask me what I was watching — but it was when people like Hayley Williams came on that it became clear that Amy is just a very generous, warm, and personable conversationalist who could make anyone comfortable speaking at length about themselves and what they care about. It’s such a simple thing, but the way she actively engages with her guests by asking them to elaborate on their answers made it feel like she was truly interested in whatever they’re saying and not just waiting for a chance to slide a joke into the back and forth. So if you want a new source of joy in your life, be sure to give this a listen.
Ben’s Video Game Pick: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – It’s taken me way, way too long to write down my thoughts on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2; every time I would sit down to do so I’d end up playing the game instead. Set in the bleak future of Games Workshop’s miniature-based wargame, Space Marine 2’s campaign puts you in the heavily fortified shoes of Titus, a 10-foot tall super soldier clad in power armor. Your mission is vital to humanity’s survival, but the game does a great job portraying you as just one of many cogs in an endless war between the Imperium of Man, an alien scourge and the traitorous servants of Chaos gods. The gameplay itself is superb, with one of the only block/parry mechanics in gaming I enjoy, supporting an aggressive playstyle. The enemies number in the hundreds in most encounters, which makes holding your ground with hilariously violent executions via an array of powerful weapons to regain armor an incredible power fantasy. After the campaign you have operations, strategems (sets of harder missions that feature another squad of marines), and the absolute insanity that is siege (Space Marine 2’s horde mode) to keep you busy. The three different endgame options feature tons of replayability via multiple classes of playable marines, all of which have an important role on the battlefield. I main the Bulwark, a class built to keep his battle brothers alive as long as possible, and to be the last one standing if things go sideways. There’s a few PvP modes as well, but the cooperative side alone has me nearing 130 hours at this point, and I don’t see myself stopping any time soon. “FOR THE EMPEROR!”
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!
And while you’re here, be sure to check some of the site’s other recent content:
- Paul’s film review of 1977’s Eraserhead
Middle of the Row 