I can’t think of any other video game studios who have fallen from grace and rose confidently back out of the ashes twice within the space of four years but, then again, Bungie never has been one to adhere to conventional patterns, has it? With 2014’s Destiny (opens in new …
Read More »C64 Mini review: “A charming package that falls just short of greatness”
I don’t have a particularly deep well of nostalgia for the Commodore 64. Though Retro Games Ltd., makers of the C64 Mini, are quick to point out that it’s the best selling home computer of all time, for me it’s a weird machine that lived in a dusty room at …
Read More »First Reformed review: “A volatile mix of gravitas and grindhouse”
Situated in the fictional town of Snowbridge in upstate New York, the First Reformed Church is a white clapboard box with its steeple jabbing accusatorially at the grey, possibly empty heavens. It is presided over by Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke), a former military chaplain whose sparse life is one …
Read More »Whitney review: “A hugely accomplished
A year after fellow Brit Nick Broomfield, Kevin Macdonald tackles the enigma that is Whitney Houston in this sure-footed documentary. The difference from Broomfield’s Whitney: Can I Be Me is huge. Macdonald’s film is authorised, with full access to family and friends thanks to Whitney’s sister-in-law Pat Houston, who takes …
Read More »Leave No Trace review: “A subtle, assured, and often powerful tale”
Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik’s latest feature is a deceptively simple work – and all the better for it. A father-daughter tale, it’s adapted from Peter Rock’s 2009 book My Abandonment, which itself was inspired by a true story. Ben Foster plays Will, a war veteran living with his daughter …
Read More »Mario Tennis Aces review: “Experimental, tactical and downright kooky matches every time”
Mario gets about, doesn’t he? In the past year, he’s been on a globetrotting Odyssey, joined forces with some Rabbids to save the world (again), and now he’s donning his sneakers in time to surf the astroturf in Mario Tennis Aces. It’s been three years since we last had a …
Read More »Incredibles 2 review: “A blast, brilliantly animated and furious fun”
The world has changed a lot since The Incredibles. Not the world shown in Incredibles 2 – set directly after the first movie, this sees our spandex-suited superfamily still foiling bad guys in the early ’60s and still frowned on by government and public alike – but, y’know, the real …
Read More »Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review: : “It’s standard stuff, the beasts are no longer a miracle, the humans bland”
“Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur?” says Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), returning from 2015’s Jurassic World having ditched the corporate career (she now heads up a dinosaur-protection group) and with it those goddamn heels. “The first time… it’s like a miracle.” Such is the problem …
Read More »Sea of Thieves review: “Doesn’t have the (sea)legs for longevity”
Sailing back to the Dagger Tooth Outpost, we knew we’d done alright for an afternoon of pirating. With three chests and a mysterious glowing skull to sell, the idea of more gold jiggling in our pockets in the very near future was a tantalising thought for the GamesRadAARGH crew. There …
Read More »Pacific Rim Uprising review: “Boyega adds real bounce and DeKnight delivers spectacle”
“I am not my father.” With those words, Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) lets us know that this Pacific Rim is cut differently to its 2013 predecessor. Introduced ten years after the human-controlled Jaeger robots defeated the threat of the Kaiju monsters from the deep, Jake is far removed from his …
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