Saturday, March 16, 2024

Pompo the Cinephile

 

As is the nature of film, Hollywood studios occasionally release films about the process of making one. While many are entertaining, they typically depict the process as grueling and filled with inevitable backstabbing or, at the very least, major interpersonal issues. Back in 2021, the anime film Pompo the Cinephile, which partially adapts the pixiv Comic manga Pompo: The Cinéphile, challenged this popular depiction as the only valid one. In fact, it also successfully challenges the notion of overt interpersonal drama as the main source of conflict, as well as other ideas about the filmmaking process in general.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Second Look - God of War III Remastered


Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

Following the release of God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP in 2008 came the long-awaited God of War III in 2010, the first to be released on the PS3. This installment happens to be my personal favorite in the series and one I have a fond memory of playing, in part since I attended a midnight launch of the game in my senior year of high school and, due to the timing of its release, was able to play through the entirety of the game across two days since I was able to skip most of those two days (I was also admittedly a little obsessive of its development during the pre-release hype). While God of War III also got the remaster treatment like most of the other Greek games, in the form of God of War III Remastered, this is also notably the only one of those games to be released on PS4, likely as a way of hyping the then-upcoming 2018 game. Naturally, I also played the remaster when it came out, and found it only fitting to revisit this game through said remaster. While I liked the original version well enough as a teenager, I got a lot more out of the game’s story on this playthrough, allowing me to appreciate it even further.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Second Look - God of War: Chains of Olympus

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Between God of War II and III, two portable games were released to help fill in the gaps in both the release and the story. The second of these games was God of War: Chains of Olympus, released on the PSP and developed by Ready at Dawn, serving as a prequel to the original God of War. Following the release of God of War III, this game and the second PSP game, Ghost of Sparta, were later ported to PS3 as part of God of War: Origins Collection, featuring an HD presentation and gameplay tweaks to bring them more in line with their console brethren. Though I have had experience with the original PSP release and find it to be a good reason to own the handheld, I remembered having a much better time when it was ported to PS3, which was how I decided to re-experience the game while revisiting the original Greek series. Although the game is very definitely showing its age, especially by virtue of having been a handheld game first, I still found it worth playing as a proper installment in the franchise.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Stubs - The Last Command

The Last Command (1928) Starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell. Directed by Josef von Sternberg; Screenplay by John Goodrich. Presented by Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky. Black and White. USA Run time: 88 minutes. Silent, Melodrama.

Once considered by the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database to be extant, the rumors of its demise have been overly exaggerated. The Last Command is a noteworthy work mostly because of its prominence in Academy Awards history. The lead actor, Emil Jannings would be the first actor to win for his work. Back then, the award wasn’t for one film, but for a body of work for the year, so Jannings won for this film, as well as his performance in The Way of All Flesh.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Second Look - God of War: Betrayal


In the intervening period between God of War II and God of War III, two other games in the series were released that expanded further on the story, both developed for handheld devices. The first of these was God of War: Betrayal, the only one to be developed for mobile phones, taking place between the events of the first two games. I actually played this game quite a bit in high school, back when I had a compatible phone that could play it, though the game’s canonicity had been debated over the years and has since become unavailable to download legally. Once it was confirmed that the game was canon, via a tweet from Santa Monica Studio animation director Bruno Velasquez, I scrambled to dig out an old phone I held on to that still had the game on it, or else have to resort to emulation just to play an old mobile game. Miraculously, after having to buy a charger, I managed to uncover an old LG Rumor phone that still had the game on it, allowing me to finally play it once again in its original glory.

 

The tweet confirming its canon status.

While the game was certainly groundbreaking at the time for its ability to translate the series to the mobile space, to where it was considered one of the best mobile games to play in the era before smart phones, its quality is now more hotly contested as a result of its antiquity.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Second Look - God of War II


Following the release and success of the original God of War, Kratos’ story was allowed to continue in a sequel, aptly titled God of War II. Notably, although the PS3 was around the corner during its development, the game was developed exclusively for the PS2, due to the developers having a better understanding of the PS2’s architecture in addition to the system having the bigger player base at the time. This game and the original God of War would also be ported to the PS3 as part of God of War Legacy Collection, which was made to promote God of War III and ended up popularizing, if not pioneering, HD remasters of retro games. As with the first game, I decided to replay the second through this collection after having not played it for a little over 10 years, coming away with a much better understanding of its plot and themes than I did previously.

Monday, March 4, 2024

Second Look - God of War (2005)

 

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War (2005).

While my opinions of the God of War series have been mostly positive, as time has passed, I have not been completely satisfied with my original reviews of the entries centered on Greek mythology, which were originally written around the release of God of War: Ascension. Around the release of God of War: Ragnarök, the idea of revisiting Kratos’ roots resurfaced, and I felt more motivated to do so upon finishing that game, starting with the original God of War from 2005. While the game was originally released on the PS2, and I have played it multiple times on that platform, I decided to replay it through the God of War HD Collection on PS3 due to the graphical improvements made for that port, and in the process realizing I had not touched the game in a little over a decade. After diving back into it following such a lengthy absence, while it hasn’t exactly aged well visually, it has aged very well from a storytelling perspective and remains one of the best examples of a Mature-rated game.