Review

READ THIS: Coffin Bound

/ everythingkidchris / Leave a comment

Coffin Bound from Image Comics deserves a place at the absolute top of everyone’s reading list.

Let’s chat about my new favorite book. I’ll just go ahead and say it outright: if you have any interest in comics, Coffin Bound needs to be on your radar. This book is INCREDIBLE, and while only two issues in at this point, it has absolutely blown me away. I absolutely cannot express enough how much love I have for this book. Stop reading this. THIS IS TIME YOU COULD BE USING TO GO BUY COFFIN BOUND AND READ THAT INSTEAD. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GO GO GO!

~C

*Record Scratch*

Image result for record scratch gif

…..Okay maybe I should elaborate a bit more.

On the surface, Coffin Bound doesn’t seem like anything that hasn’t been done in the scope of neo-noir before. Our protagonist, Izzy Tyburn, is targeted by a notorious killer and hits the road as the killer pursues. Along the way we meet various criminal groups, crime bosses, down-on-their-luck people just trying to get by, and various forms of sex, drugs and violence we’d expect from the derelict landscapes surrounding the story, populated by dilapidated buildings and absolutely covered in litter and graffiti. However, the surface is where familiarity stops, and as we dig deeper the true surreal nature of Coffin Bound blasts its way into our brains.
Continue reading →

The Favorites: Lazarus

/ everythingkidchris / Leave a comment

Lemme tell ya a little bit about one of my favorite comics.

Lazarus, written by Greg Rucka with art by Michael Lark, is a phenomenal book. It’s set in a dystopian future where the world has been divided up amongst various pharmaceutical “families.” These groups control their portion of the world, running things how they see fit in caste-based societies that range from generally utilitarian to full on tyrannical. The series focuses on Forever Carlyle, who is the Lazarus for the Carlyle family.
Continue reading →

Calm

/ everythingkidchris / Leave a comment

Image result for calm nature gif

[I wasn’t paid or asked to make this post. Simply sharing praise on my own accord]

Just want to take a moment to praise the Calm app.

Sometime last year I picked up this app out of interest based on their commercials. You’ve probably seen them: the soft sounds of rain falling on leaves behind a command to do nothing for 30 seconds or so. It’s effective marketing because it presents itself like a challenge. Whether you’re just idly watching TV or using it as background music, the isolated sounds of the drizzle pull your awareness to the screen and the countdown timer locks you in. I found myself stopping whatever else I was doing anytime this commercial came on and just focusing on the sound. Then it pops up with “Calm” and how to find the app. It’s effective marketing in the most simplistic because it’s jarring in it’s lack of noise and music like so many other commercials. It because noticeable because of its serenity, which is exactly what Calm is getting at: breaking from the noise of life to spend a small amount of time every day being calm.
Continue reading →

Boys in the Trees

/ everythingkidchris / Leave a comment

I recently watched “Boys in the Trees” on Netflix, a movie I had honestly skipped over time and time again when looking for something to watch, and I am SO incredibly glad I finally gave it a shot.

First of all, I skipped it over because of how Netflix made it sound. The description of this movie is:

“They once were friends, but now hormones and high school divide them. On Halloween, however, the rules don’t apply.”

They accompany this with a lot of wolf-based imagery and scenes of teens doing hooligan type stuff. I assumed, to be perfectly honest, that I was gonna get a “Lost Boys meets the Howling” kinda deal. I was expecting ruffian teens who are also werewolves to some capacity terrorizing a small Australian town. Maybe some good creatures effects, probably just a bunch of cheap CGI, move along.

What I ended up getting was a gorgeous coming of age story with a horror twist. I got a movie that reminded us to keep to our dreams, that promises matter, especially those we make to ourselves, and to always remember those we left behind as we grew up.
Continue reading →

Turd Polish: Fallen Kingdom

/ everythingkidchris / 3 Comments

Image result for jurassic world fallen kingdom gif

NEW SERIES! I mentioned a long time back that I wanted to do movie reviews where I took critically panned films and found the good in them. Not necessarily a SUPER panned film, but it’s current, so I figured this is a good place to start:

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the latest entry in the much-adored dino-go-smashy-bitey series, is currently leaving fans and critics alike yearning for the mystique and wonder felt by the original trilogy of movies. Honestly, I agree: The movie was very much a missable entry in the series and I hope if they plan to continue they do some serious work building this thing up from its bare bones.

But say you’re going to see this movie soon, with a date or a friend. What can you look forward to? What redeeming factors might exist amongst the muck? Well, like the paleontologists these movies used to actually involve, let’s dig our way through the rock of shallow characters and tonal shifts to find some nuggets of good that were obviously just put there by satan to fool non-believers (science is cool).
Continue reading →

Destiny Requires Careful Planning

/ everythingkidchris / Leave a comment

Image result for infinity war planning gif

Avengers: Infinity War is an absolutely beautiful testament to the potential of the Superhero medium. As a film, it successfully avoided many of the dangerous pit falls that Superhero films tend to fall into, such as confused pacing between too many characters or an underwhelming villain (the latter of which this movie was definitely FAR from). However, I wanted to talk about probably my favorite thing about this movie, which is something that I think is getting overlooked, or at least I haven’t seen much discussion on it.

SPOILERS for Infinity War ahead.

Continue reading →

Holy Lack of Strong Female Characters, Batman!

/ everythingkidchris / Leave a comment

So, I told myself I would never do video game reviews beyond the goofy lists of retro games I plan to do from time to time.

However, this fundamentally bothered me.
(Warning: Long Post)

Now, two early warnings here:
First, SPOILERS, obviously. I will be discussing fairly big plot points in the game Batman: Arkham Knight. If you don’t want the fates of certain characters ruined, don’t read until you’ve played.
Second, elements of this review will dip into an argument of feminism. I know the stigma this type of critical view has taken on the internet. Know this is less of a all-encompassing philosophical dogma for me and more just a critical scope with which to present this argument and observe media. Not that I don’t support feminism, but I feel it, as with any and all “isms,” has its merits, its uses, and its validity based on context.

Anywho, let’s dive in head first.

Continue reading →

The Most Important Post I Will Ever Make

/ everythingkidchris / 1 Comment

Seriously, the world is a messed up place.

Plane crashes.

Terrorists.

Nuclear Meltdowns.

The Patriots winning the Superbowl.

Political and Economic discord in Europe.

The ongoing struggle for Equal Rights in America.

Charli XCX

This is a hard time to be alive for sure. In addition to all the above tragedies, the media makes a parade of panic and fear, igniting outrage and ignorance at every turn in an attempt to fuel the fire of public discord all in the name of ratings and advertising revenue.

We could talk for days about the problems of the world and what we could do to fix them.

Instead, here’s a completely crass, childish review of the original Muppet Movie:

Continue reading →