REVIEW: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - Starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton and Dave Bautista

I am going to keep this review relatively short, as it seems apparent that I am the only person around who did not like this film.

Let's first look at the official synopsis

"Benoit Blanc returns to peel back the layers in a new Rian Johnson whodunit. This fresh adventure finds the intrepid detective at a lavish private estate on a Greek island, but how and why he comes to be there is only the first of many puzzles. Blanc soon meets a distinctly disparate group of friends gathering at the invitation of billionaire Miles Bron for their yearly reunion. Among those on the guest list are Miles' former business partner Andi Brand, current Connecticut governor Claire Debella, cutting-edge scientist Lionel Toussaint, fashion designer and former model Birdie Jay and her conscientious assistant Peg, and influencer Duke Cody and his sidekick girlfriend Whiskey. As in all the best murder mysteries, each character harbours their own secrets, lies and motivations. When someone turns up dead, everyone is a suspect."

This has to be one of the most unnecessarily overcomplicated films ever made. It also has a ridiculously long run time of 2 hours and 12 minutes not including the credits. What should be a simple who dunnit, is so discombobulated, I honestly don't know where to start.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-glass-onion-knives-out-mystery.html

REVIEW: Prey for the Devil (2022) - Starring Jacqueline Byers, Colin Salmon and Christian Navarro

I know what I need to distract me from the bad weather, it's a good horror film, and luckily, director Daniel Stamm has just such a film in Prey for the Devil.

The Roman Catholic Church is combatting a rise in demonic possessions across the world, and one way they are doing that is by reopening schools to train priests to exorcise the demons, specifically the Rite of Exorcism.

Despite being forbidden from performing exorcisms, Sister Ann (Jacqueline Byers) believes she has a calling to be the first female exorcist. She seeks out one of these schools, and Professor and Priest, Father Quinn (Colin Salmon), sees great potential in Sister Ann and recognises her natural gifts and agrees to train her.

A young girl has been possessed and Sister Ann believes that the child is possessed by the same demon that possessed her own mother when she was a child. Through flashbacks we see how her mother would be normal one minute, before turning on the young Ann and hurting her.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-prey-for-devil-2022-starring.html

REVIEW: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Next Gen Update - Xbox Series X

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was originally released in 2015, and is widely recognised as one of the greatest games ever made, so it is pointless me just reviewing the game as it is, instead I will specifically concentrate on whether or not it is worth replaying since it now has a next gen update. For the record if you have never played it before, then yes, 100% you need to play this game. But what if like me, you had it when it was first released, and now have either a Xbox Series X or a PS5, should you restart the game from the start? Is there enough there to warrant it? Read on to find out.

My impressions come from the Xbox Series X version.

So, what are the main updates, well obviously the visuals have improved, the game already looked great, but now the game has added some bells and whistles to fully take advantage of the power of Xbox Series X and PS5. We have the addition of ray tracing, which can be chosen from the graphics menu, this mode offers better graphics (mainly the light effects), but the FPS drops to 30. The other new mode is a performance mode, that gives you a greater frame rate (60FPS), but less graphical improvements.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-witcher-3-wild-hunt-next-gen.html

REVIEW: Petite Adventure on PC (Steam)

Developed by Petite Games and published by Ratalaika Games comes another great little game, and I use the word "little" deliberately for once.

 

Petite Adventure is a simple 3D driving game, each level represents a different challenge and an objective you need to complete. The faster the time to complete, the better the reward. Rewards are gold, silver and bronze trophies.

There are 32 levels, set across 3 different difficulties. Challenges include doing drifts within certain areas, popping balloons with a giant spiked ball attached to the back of your car, collecting coins on difficult tracks, basic courses you need to complete, you can even play a type of golf, where you have to hit a relatively large golf ball towards the flag. Of course, on the face of it these all sound easy, but when you realise that you have very tight courses, and one mistake means the end of the game for you, the challenge of it all really makes its mark.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-petite-adventure-on-pc-steam.html

REVIEW: Jitsu Squad on Nintendo Switch

Do you like chaotic 4 player side scrolling beat 'em ups? Do you like cartoon graphics? Do you enjoy games that are just plain fun to play? If you answered yes, to any of those, then perhaps I may have just found the game for you.

From Tanuki Creative Studio comes Jitsu Squad, this is such a fun game, instantly reminds me of classic side scroller beat 'em ups like Streets of rage, but with the crazy, chaotic feel of a Super Smash Bros.

Synopsis

"This is the story of the legendary, hidden Kusanagi Stone and the warriors seeking it. Containing the soul of a powerful demon, The Kusanagi stone can grant godly powers to those who awaken it. Now, the wicked sorcerer Origami, destroyer of worlds and lord of darkness, has summoned ancient warriors to find the stone for him, cursing their souls and turning them into animals in the process. Luckily, a mysterious monk called Ramen manages to save four warrior souls from Origami's call: Hero, Baby, Jazz, and Aros, together are the Jitsu Squad! "

Although advertised as a 4-player game, you can also play solo, and switch between the various characters as you play.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-jitsu-squad-on-nintendo-switch.html

REVIEW: Togges on Nintendo Switch

Togges is advertised as "a game unlike anything you've ever seen!", and to be fair, it is pretty unique, whether that is a good thing or a bad thing you will have to read on to find out.

This is a 3D platformer, but you control what I can only describe as a robot vacuum of sorts. You can suck up and spread cubes, (Togges) which in turn will help you solve environmental puzzles. You are tasked with helping the King President to save the Universe from the threat of The Void.

Even though your vacuum (yes, I am calling it that) can move around freely and even jump, to stack Togges you need to have a start point, this start point then allows you to spread cubes either horizontal or vertically. You have a set amount of Togges. Now why would you need to spread Togges? Well early on you are tasked with collecting fruit, but to collect fruit you need to place some Togges on the top of the fruit, so you need to spread a line of Togges to reach the fruit before you can collect it. And of course, the fruit aren't going to be in an easy to find location, this is where the environmental puzzle element comes in.

Now after the first tutorial, you will start your first world of sorts. Now this game is rather heavy on the text dialog, too heavy, and because of that, you will find yourself skipping through things just so you can start to play the game, this is a problem, as you will inevitably miss an important instruction, as I did.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-togges-on-nintendo-switch.html

REVIEW: Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) - Starring Riley Dandy, Sam Delich and Jonah Ray

In general I hate Christmas movies that have Christmas as the theme, I don't mind films that are associated with this time of year, like Die Hard, Jason and the Argonauts etc, but Christmas specific films I usually hate, so when I saw that our good friends at Shudder have released a Christmas horror film, I have to admit I was intrigued.

We start off with some Christmas advertisements playing on a TV, with someone changing the channels, each change starts a new ad. Suddenly there is a news flash regarding a robotic Santa that has been recalled due to a malfunction. At this point I had the Terminator music playing in my head!

It is Christmas Eve and the owner of a record store, Tori Tooms (played by the excellent Riley Dandy) along with her employee Robbie Reynolds (played by Sam Delich) are closing up the shop. They discuss Tori's upcoming date with a guy she matched with on Tinder, Robbie convinces her that he is probably secretly married and a dad to four kids, and that instead of going on the date she should go out for drinks with him. Before heading to the bar, they pop and see their friends Lahna (Dora Madison) and Jay (Jonah Ray) who run a toy store next door to the record shop. They have on display one of the robotic Santa's that we saw mentioned at the very start.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-christmas-bloody-christmas-2022.html

Interview with James Norton (Tommy Lee Royce) from Happy Valley

Can you describe Happy Valley?

Happy Valley is set in the Calder Valley, Halifax, Hebden Bridge area stretching over towards Leeds. It's about a family - a Police officer rather - called Catherine Cawood, played by the wonderful Sarah Lancashire, and her family; her sister, her grandson and her colleagues. She has a relationship with a man, Tommy who had a relationship, or a very abusive relationship, with her daughter. Her daughter had a son called Ryan, and so Tommy Lee Royce's son, Ryan, is also Catherine Cawood's grandson. It has inextricably linked these two characters and they become these two fearsome adversaries.

How would you describe your character, Tommy?

Tommy Lee Royce is an enigma and a puzzle and a kind of terrifying mess. Genuinely, I am still kind of working him out. I think I had certain preconceptions about him in the first series. We would talk about him quite flippantly as if he is a psychopath. And I did a lot of work into psychopathy and was introduced to some behavioural psychologists and criminal psychologists who were really wonderfully helpful in excavating Tommy and the mindset that he has.

What we know about Tommy is that he had a very abusive childhood and lives with horrible trauma. We know that because Sally has written it into the script and he is very, very mistrustful of the world. He sees everything and everyone as a hostility and a potential threat. I think he feels like the way to live a happy life in his head is to be on the defensive and to attack before he gets attacked. It's quite a sad, lonely space that Tommy lives in.

How do you prepare to get into Tommy's headspace?

The way into Tommy's headspace has been challenging because by nature he lives in a very different space to me and most people I know - on that kind of fringe of humanity. As a result, it is one of the more challenging roles to find the shared experience with him. But that is kind of the joy when you are asked to empathise with someone who feels very distant from yourself. That's kind of where you learn the most, if you go on that journey with empathy and understanding you get to see the world in an entirely different way. Tommy's version is very different from mine, thank goodness.

Can you describe the relationship between Catherine and Tommy?

The relationship between Catherine and Tommy is kind of everything, at least for Tommy. Tommy has Catherine and Ryan, they are the big two poles of his existence. Catherine has her family and does not want to think about Tommy. Tommy constantly forces his way into her life and her consciousness. They are in the best way, in that sort of old-fashioned way, epic adversaries pitched against each other. They are obsessed with each other, there's a kind of deep, deep hatred in the way that when you think about someone that you hate they inhabit part of your consciousness. There's a sort of, not love at all but, there is a kind of connection and affinity. There's a certain kind of shared experience they have in that they both obsess about each other. In that way they are inextricably linked and will always be in some way married together.

Where do we find Tommy at the beginning of series three?

We pick up Tommy seven years later and he is still in prison serving multiple life sentences. But he has changed, he has moved on and grown and he has matured. He has calmed down and there is a definite shift in his demeanour and his temperament. I think that's because for the first time in a long time he has got hope.

What journey does Tommy go on in series three?

Unlike the Tommy we have seen of the first and second series he feels quite affable and in control, I think that's probably because we arrive in the third series and Tommy has information about something we don't know about yet. That information, that situation is giving him a sense of contentment.

Why is Happy Valley a must-see?

Happy Valley is a must-see because you have one of the best writers in the world, at the top of her game. You have Sarah Lancashire, also an absolute legend in our industry, giving the performance of her life. An amazing cast, Siobhan Finneran and others. It's just a great community, a great group of people doing great work. I just think it's a great story, it's a great thriller. We have got fantastic characters driving it forward. We love playing the characters because they are so beautifully drawn. And while Sally is brilliant at character dialogue, she is also extraordinary at plot. There is always an absolute ride, rollercoaster of a plot and many people said in the first series that they would end up behind their sofa with their hands over their mouth. I think both the second and hopefully the third deliver on that.

What about Happy Valley are you most proud of?

I am immensely proud of the series as a whole. Immensely proud that I was able to have a part in it. And it's wonderful to come back knowing there is such an appetite and a love for the show. I was really proud when I went to America and I realised how far reaching the show is. I think it's such a specific show about the very specific part of England, and you know the accents and the temperaments and sensibilities of those characters are quite specific to the area. And yet when I go to America, I am amazed at how many people have watched it and how many people love it. And that was a really proud moment, when I realised how it wasn't only a show loved in the UK but internationally.

How does it feel to be bringing Happy Valley back for series three?

To be back here filming Happy Valley feels great because people love the show and we love making it. It's really, really wonderful knowing there's an appetite for something. I have had so many interviews over the last seven years where people have asked me, or people in the street have asked me 'when is it coming back?' So now to be able to say we have shot a third series and it's coming back and it's as big and bold as ever is really wonderful.

What can audiences be most excited about for the news series?

I think the reason this series is particularly exciting is because everyone knows it's the last and so everyone is going to be waiting for something to happen, and everyone is sort of predicting and guessing how Sally wants to end it. I have been predicting for the last seven years how she is going to end it so it was really wonderful to read the script and hear her ideas - and they don't disappoint.

REVIEW: IXION on PC (Steam)

IXION is a space-based city building game from Bulwark Studios, you are the Administrator of the space station Tiqqun, and after a warp like jump, you seemingly cause the destruction of the Earth and are now charged with finding a new home for humanity.

Including city building mechanics, as well as survival elements and space exploration, the game is advertised as a thrilling space opera.

As the game starts, you have access to a sector of the space station, from here you will start to lay the foundations of what you hope will be the start of the survival for humanity.

To start with you will build storage units to store various things you will find, mine or grow. You need places for your workers to live, food for them to eat and so on.

Everything is pretty straight forward, however the way it is first laid out is terrible, you see the tutorial is awful. There is no real hand holding here. Basic instructions that miss a lot of the important things.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-ixion-on-pc-steam.html

REVIEW: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Another day and another Pinocchio film. It was only a few months ago I reviewed the terrible Disney Live Action Pinocchio with Tom Hanks in it, that was a stinker, in part due to the usual woke decisions of Disney, to insert identity politics into what is supposed to be a 19th century story. Well this time we have Guillermo del Toro's take on Pinocchio, with a fully animated stop motion version, based on Gris Grimly's Pinocchio design from his 2002 edition of the 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, this time the film reimagines the story in 1930s Fascist Italy as "a story of love and disobedience as Pinocchio struggles to live up to his father's expectations, learning the true meaning of life."

We start the film with Master Geppetto (David Bradley), woodcarving and living peacefully in 1930s Italy with his very much alive son Carlo. World War 1 has broken out, and planes are often seen above.

One day while helping at the local Church, Geppetto sends his son out to find a flawless pine cone, a plane drops a bomb that destroys the church and kills Carlo, while Geppetto survives.

Over the next 20 years Geppetto mourns the loss of his son, one day he plants a pin cone near Carlo's grave. The grief is too much for Geppetto and he turns to drink. The pine tree grows and a cricket named Sebastian finds a home in the tree.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-guillermo-del-toros-pinocchio.html

REVIEW: I Am Jesus Christ: Prologue on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

I try to avoid reviewing prologues, or free games, as I don't see much of a point, since anyone can just download them and play themselves, no need to read a review for advice. However, since this is the first game (that I am aware of) to let you play as Jesus I just had to have a go.

Note: All screengrabs are from the cinematics and not the in-game stuff, you will find out why as you read on.

Inspired by the New Testament stories, this is a simulation, so not quite an action-adventure game that perhaps we would all like. Personally, I would love Ubisoft to use their Assassins Creed Engine, and make a Jesus game using that! Would be very cool. Unfortunately, this is an indie game with a small budget. You start the game as a grown Jesus, after a decent opening cinematic, telling the story of Jesus etc, you finally wake up in bed, first thing you need to do is go find your mother, Mary, Yes THAT Mary! All the big names are here you know!

You quickly learn you need to find John the Baptist, so you can get baptised. Some back and forth to the village, speak to a few people to find out where he is, and then head off to the river to find him.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-i-am-jesus-christ-prologue.html

REVIEW: Warriors of Future (2022) - Starring Louis Koo, Sean Lau, and Carina Lau

Sometimes you just want a mindless sci-fi film, with great special effects, aliens, great fight scenes and big explosions. Usually, you would rely on Russian filmmakers for such things, but with Covid and then the Special Operation in The Ukraine, we haven't had much from Russia to enjoy, so in steps China with a mid-budget action extravaganza.

Warriors of Future (previously known as Virtus) is directed by visual effects artist Ng Yuen-fai, in his directorial debut, and it pretty much ticks all the boxes I described above.

The year is 2055, as expected the world has been destroyed by pollution and war, military robots and advanced technology has turned the world against itself, along with natural disasters, the worlds atmosphere has become poison. Humans are being born with birth defects, if they even make it that far. With many cities destroyed, what cities remain are covered by "Skynets", air purifying domes that protect those who are lucky enough to live under them.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-warriors-of-future-2022-starring.html

REVIEW: The Independent (2022) - Starring Jodie Turner-Smith, Brian Cox, Luke Kirby, Stephen Lang, Ann Dowd, and John Cena

Sometimes in life you need to listen to your instincts, unfortunately today is a day where I failed to follow that simple advice. So, I hear about a political film about a reporter who uncovers a conspiracy that could impact the results of an upcoming presidential election. Sadly, this is not the story of how Democratic politicians illegally coordinated with far-left political activists in twitter to suppress a story and fix an election to elect their own candidate. No that would be way too interesting of a story to make a film about. (See Twitter Files). So already I do not want to watch a political film that you just know will be pushing a certain bias, but alas the film has John Cena in it! And I like John Cena, so I thought what the hell, maybe it is a comedy. Boy was I wrong.

Jodie Turner-Smith stars as Elisha "Eli" James, a reporter at the Washington Chronicle, (basically the Washington Post), she breaks a story that Olympic gold medallist, and best-selling author Nate Sterling (John Cena) is about to announce that he is going to run for President in the upcoming election as an independent candidate. He is going up against the incumbent President, an unpopular Democrat, and a Republican called Patricia Turnbull, who if elected would be the first Female President.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-independent-2022-starring-jodie.html

REVIEW: Wavetale on Nintendo Switch

From Developers Thunderful comes a new 3rd person action-adventure game called Wavetale.

Unlike anything I have played before.

Here is the synopsis:

"Surf the waters of a submerged city! Fight gigantic sea monsters, save your neighbors and uncover the secrets hidden under the surface.

Explore the open sea and the decaying archipelago of Strandville in Wavetale, a story-driven action-adventure game introducing you to fed-up fishermen, secretive hermits and maybe a pirate or two. Traverse calm waters and surging waves as Sigrid, a young girl who befriends a mysterious shadow that provides her with the power to walk on water.

Speed through the waves, swing yourself from housetops with your net, and defeat monstrous enemies to save the citizens of the islands. All with a little help from the shadows down below and your cranky grandmother."

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-wavetale-on-nintendo-switch.html

REVIEW: Troll (2022) - Starring Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim Falck, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen and Gard B. Eidsvold

Before I start, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER UNLESS YOU ARE HAPPY TO HAVE THE FILM SPOILED!

When I heard of Troll, I instantly remembered 2011 film Trollhunter, also a Norwegian film about giant Trolls. Sadly, this film is not a sequel, nor connected in any way, other than the whole giant Troll thing.

Now I loved the found film footage style of Trollhunter, so I was curious to see what a classic film style would do with this specific genre. Luckily, I was not disappointed, as Troll is one of my favourite films of the year.

The film starts with Tobias Tidemann (played by Gard B. Eidsvold), and his young daughter Nora, (Ameli Olving Sælevik). They are climbing in the mountains, and once they reach the top, Tobias tells stories of The Troll Peaks, he encourages his daughter to look at the mountains with her heart and not her eyes and she can see the ancient giant Trolls. It is a sweet moment to start the film.

We fast forward 20 years and a now grown-up Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann) is a palaeontologist, digging up fossils.

Full Review at

http://www.beentothemovies.com/2022/12/review-troll-2022-starring-ine-marie.html

REVIEW: Pretty Girls 2048 Strike on PC (Steam)

Zoo Corporation are back with yet another release in their "Pretty Girls" series, this is number 19 and is called Pretty Girls 2048 Strike.

The 2048 in the title is because the game is based on the classic tile sliding puzzle game of the same name.

If you are unfamiliar of the original game, the idea was to use your arrow keys to move the tiles. Tiles with the same number merge into one when they touch. You would win the game when you have a single tile reach 2048, now with this being a Pretty Girls release, there is a twist in the game. Each game will have a title, or multiple tiles featuring one of the Pretty Girls, they will have a score, and every time you move titles in the direction of the Pretty Girl, whatever number is on that particular tile, would take off the same amount from their score, get the Pretty Girl to zero, and you win the level. However if the board fills up, and there are no moves left, you lose.

It may sound a bit confusing, but this may very well be the most addictive Pretty Girls release yet. The addition of the Pretty Girl tile, really does take the original game to a new level, throw in some special skills, that both you the player, and the Pretty Girl can activate, and that brings another level of gameplay and tactics.

Full Review at

http://www.gamingcouchpotato.co.uk/2022/12/review-pretty-girls-2048-strike-on-pc.html