Film Round-Up #37

Taken Trilogy (2008 - 2014)
Directed By: Pierre Morel, Olivier Megaton Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Forest Whitaker, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Katie Cassidy, Dougray Scott, Xander Berkeley, Olivier Rabourdin, Arben Bajraktaraj, Rade Šerbedžija, Sam Spruell

Certificate: 18 Running Time: Approx 294 minutes

I grew up during an excellent era of action stars on the silver screen. We had Arnie at his peak, Sly during his Rocky/Rambo years, Van Damme, Steven Seagal and other martial-arts wizards, countless more if you had access to Far-Eastern cinema too, but whichever ones you watched, most of them had something in common - they were young and they pretty much only featured in action films. Go forward 25-odd years and we were given a new action star that nobody could have predicted - Liam Neeson, a serious, award-winning actor in his mid-50s? No, it hadn't been a prank, and the middle-aged thespian apparently took to it like a duck to water too. The first we got to see of him in this new guise was Taken, produced and co-written by Luc Besson. It was so successful it probably came as a surprise even to the Frenchman and Neeson himself, and before long there was a trilogy, all centred around Neeson's Bryan Mills, former Green Beret and highly effective CIA agent.

Mobile Games #11

Bloo Kid (2011)
By: Winterworks / Corona Labs Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Android Also Available For: iOS

I discovered this appealing-looking game quite a while ago now - a couple of years, probably - when I happened to see its sequel on sale in the Steam store. My OCD won't allow me to play that first though, so I had to track down the first game. Happily, I found it's a free (with ads) Android game, and of a type I enjoy a lot, namely a single-screen platformer. As appealing as that was though, it also set off an alarm. Games of this type are frequently a lot of fun but they also generally require quick and precise movements - would that be possible with a mobile game? I now own a Bluetooth game pad but it doesn't seem to work with this game, so I guess I had little choice but to find out how good (or bad) the touchscreen controls were. Let's hope it's the former!

First Look Amiga #2

Inviyya by Tigerskunk / Polyplay (2021) - Amiga

I don't really have time to keep up to date with most indie/homebrew scenes these days and that sadly includes the lively community of Amiga fans, so I'm sure there are tons of great games/projects that I've missed. Even I managed to stumble on Inviyya though, a new hori shmup which looked frankly remarkable from the screenshots I saw. Happily the kind team behind the game gave me a digital review copy (there is also a superb full physical version available) and, after an embarrassing yet characteristic period of procrastination, I sat down to give it a good play prior to writing a full review. Unfortunately, after working out how to get the game running on the rather complicated WinUAE emulator, I soon ran into some as-yet-unresolved technical issues. Until such time as these issues are ironed out, I thought I'd make a quick post to give my first impressions on what looks to be a corker.

Film Review #118

Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)
Director: Taylor Sheridan Starring: Angelina Jolie, Finn Little, Jon Bernthal, Nicholas Hoult, Aidan Gillen, Jake Weber, Medina Senghore, Tyler Perry

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 100 Minutes

You don't seem to see the once-prolific Ms. Jolie in much these days but my wife is a fan (shouldn't that be the other way around?) so this recent HBO novel adaptation was very much on the agenda as soon as it was available. Set in the wild country of Montana, it stars her (Jolie, not my wife) as Hannah, a former 'smokejumper' (someone who is parachuted to the site of a wildfire to provide first response action and advice about directing further firefighting efforts). She is now stationed at a fire lookout tower after three young campers recently died on her watch leaving her traumatised and unsure of herself. Stumbling into her neck of the woods (chortle!) is Owen, a forensic accountant on the run from some hoodlums with his sole remaining child Connor (Little), after said hoodlums whacked his boss and family when Owen discovered some nefarious activity on the part of their boss Arthur (Perry). When Owen is fatally shot, he gives the evidence to young Connor and tells him to run.

Lynx Games #2

Gauntlet: The Third Encounter (1990)
By: Atari Genre: Maze / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Atari Lynx First Day Score: 44,816
Also Available For: Nothing

When I was younger I loved the two Gauntlet games. I had them on a compilation (I forget which now) for my Speccy, and my local arcade had the full-on four-player version of the first game there for years, so I had lots of opportunities to do my Gauntleting. They were very high-profile games too, but it wasn't until years later I realised... where the hell was Gauntlet 3? Well, as it turned out, there were two different takes on a third game in the series and neither was anywhere near as high-profile as the first two. One was made by Software Creations for the 8 & 16-bit home micros and was not very Gauntlet-ish. The other was developed by Epyx and released only on the handheld console they developed - the Lynx. Would it prove to be any more Gauntlety than the weird home micro offering? Yes it would, as it turns out, but it's still far from a typical Gauntlet game.

Game Art Gallery #2

Most of my fellow UK retro gamers will probably remember the various Psygnosis adverts that appeared in magazines like C&VG and Ace back in the late 80s and early 90s, and for a majority of us they will be something we remember fondly. I've recently been looking into these in a bit more detail and found a few that I'd never even seen before. After careful consideration, I posted my Top Five a few months back, but there were some tough choices and the ones that didn't make the list deserve to be seen too. I therefore now present what I believe to be the complete Psygnosis adverts gallery! Well, the ads in this style at least, but I'm probably wrong anyway (grunkle). I've also tried to tidy/touch up some of the images too. Hope you like them, and let me know of any I missed :)

 

Film Round-Up #36

As you may remember, I did a round-up of Sandra Bullock films a few months back, but round-ups here at Red Parsley generally consist of five films and I accidentally watched six. I therefore had little choice to watch four more films featuring the lovely Virginian and post another round-up here! This wasn't a hardship if I'm honest - she's not exactly tough on the eyes after all (snigger!) - so behold, here's another selection of films starring or featuring this mighty appealing actress:

The Net (1995)

This is one of those ones I knew of in its day but never got around to watching, so this was my first time! As the name may suggest, it's a 'techno-thriller' starring Ms. Bullock as Angela Bennett who is a systems analyst who lives through her computer (yes, that was even possible in the mid-90s!). When a friend sends her a spooky hacker program, however, she thereafter finds herself targetted by a ghastly group of cyberterrorists who have stolen her identity, planted a fake one where she's a junkie hooker, and are chasing her for that magical 3.5" 'floppy' that houses such important data. Placed firmly in the 'English bad guy' role is Jeremy Northam as the main hoodlum chasing Angela (after quite literally 'pumping' her for information, obviously). Despite the understandably-outdated computery stuff though (or even partly because of it!), this was looking like a decent thriller at first. Bullock plays the out-of-her-depth-loner well as she suddenly finds herself with no home, money, or anything else, and she remains as likeable as ever in the process. Sadly, no one else stands out and the plot does go downhill somewhat in the final act, so it's left to its radiant star to just about ensure this one is still worth a watch... 6/10