Stubs - Frankenstein (2025)

Frankenstein (2025) starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Lauren Collins, Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro. Based on Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Scott Stuber Run time: 150 minutes. Color. USA. Gothic Science Fiction

If you’re like me, when you think of Frankenstein’s Monster, you immediately think of Boris Karloff, the star of James Whale’s 1931 film; part of the Universal Monsterverse, which for some are the classic horror films. While many of these films are based on classic books, sometimes the adaptation is very loose, which is the case with Frankenstein (1931).

A couple of years ago, I found out for myself by reading Shelley’s book. Not that it ruined my enjoyment of the classic film, but when I heard that Guillermo del Toro was going to make a film based on the book, I was hopeful that it would be closer to the source material. I’m happy to report that, though there is some poetic license taken, including the ending, the new Frankenstein is closer to the Shelley novel.

Second Look - Touch My Katamari

As the popularity of the Katamari series continued, the series later ventured back into the handheld space, this time with a launch title for the PS Vita in 2012 (2011 in Japan) called Touch My Katamari. Unfortunately, the game was a failure, resulting in the series going all but dormant for 14 years until the announcement of Once Upon a Katamari, at least partially attributed to the PS Vita itself failing as a system. The formal return of the franchise led me to dig out my copy of Touch My Katamari, which I last played in 2013 according to my save data, to reevaluate my opinions. Looking back on it, although I noticed more flaws in the game this time, I still found it an ultimately entertaining experience, even if not the best.

Katamari Forever

While Beautiful Katamari was the first Katamari game to be absent from a PlayStation console, it would return to the PS3 with Katamari Forever, a tribute to five years of the franchise. I actually remember playing this game when it first came out and liked it enough to consider it my personal favorite of the series, but over time I had forgotten the nuances of the game itself. On booting the game back up again in anticipation of Once Upon A Katamari, this turned out to be because I hadn’t played it since 2011. While I was noticing more flaws this time, I was ultimately reminded why I considered it my favorite, and still is.

Second Look - Beautiful Katamari (+ DLC)

As the Katamari series continued to show success, a new console game was made following the handheld Me & My Katamari. In a departure from previous titles which were on the PlayStation family of systems, this new game, Beautiful Katamari, was released exclusively for the Xbox 360; the intent was to go multiplatform, however only the Xbox 360 version ever got made. After mainly sticking with the PlayStation line for the longest time, since it has most of the games I want to play, Beautiful Katamari was on my radar when I finally branched out to the Xbox systems, and so I played it once I got the chance. At the time, I did not buy the DLC, which I would later check off my shopping list when the Xbox 360 store was shutting down, but I would not revisit the game again until the announcement of the upcoming Once Upon A Katamari.

As of this writing, I have yet to resolve some issues I have been having with my Xbox 360, so it was fortunate that I was able to play this game again, DLC included, on the Xbox Series X as part of the backwards compatibility program, though I will admit to playing with a DualSense through a converter to make it more comfortable for me to play. On my most recent playthrough, I liked it more than I remembered, though my feelings remain mixed.

Me & My Katamari

With the success of We Love Katamari on the PS2, it was natural for Namco to want to capitalize further on the Katamari brand with or without Keita Takahashi’s involvement. In a first for the series, Namco proceeded without him for a new entry made for the PSP, Me & My Katamari, in 2005. Regardless of its issues, the PSP was my handheld of choice for many years and helped get me through high school, with this game being part of my library since I was obsessed with the series at the time. With the announcement of Once Upon A Katamari on modern platforms, I decided to take another look at this game on another save file, though I was surprised to see that I hadn’t played it since 2010. While I would still consider the game to be pretty fun, enough time has passed that its flaws stand out more to me through fresh eyes.

Tron: Ares

Note: This review contains spoilers for Tron: Legacy.

About fifteen years after the release of Tron: Legacy, and coincidentally about fifteen years after the start of this blog, Tron fans finally witnessed the release of a third film, Tron: Ares. Although Legacy director Joseph Kosinski had plans for a sequel, which would have been known as Tron: Ascension, it entered development hell due to a combination of Tomorrowland bombing at the box office and Disney’s buyouts of Lucasfilm and Marvel, though the company never outright cancelled it. Around 2017, plans shifted to the Jared Leto-led sequel that we have now, with a different writer (Jesse Wigutow), director (Joachim Rønning) and composer (Nine Inch Nails) to boot. As a fan of the franchise, I felt hyped going in despite the chosen lead, as I simply felt glad that Disney gave us more Tron at all. However, now that I’ve actually seen Ares, in IMAX 3D no less, I can happily say that although it’s not the best written installment, it was well worth the fifteen-year wait.

Tron: Catalyst (PC)

Two years after the release of Tron: Identity (Identity), developer Bithell Games would return to the Tron franchise with a new game, Tron: Catalyst (Catalyst), as part of the greater buildup to Tron: Ares. Since there was a general drought of Tron content at the time of the announcement, I was excited for it in part due to liking Tron: Identity, but bought it after it came out as part of a Steam sale and only recently got around to it. While the gameplay may be different, the storytelling remains one of the developer’s strong points and made me invested in seeing more.