PHIL ON FILM: "Glass"

For my written review, click here.

Book Report: "Rasputin: The Untold Story"

Rasputin: The Untold Story by Joseph T. Fuhrmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Few historical figures are as polarizing and mythologized as Rasputin, so it was a formidable task for Joseph T. Fuhrmann to sort through the misinformation and patch together a definitive narrative about the mysterious figure.

Movies portray Rasputin as a dark wizard who cast spells and hypnotized witless power brokers into carrying out his bidding. Naysayers dismiss him as a charlatan who was more of a mentalist, exploiting vulnerabilities of those he encountered to make himself seem powerful in ways he was not.

Could it be that the truth was somewhere in the middle?

What emerges is a portrait of a megalomaniacal mystic who was the chief culprit at spreading false narratives about his powers and influence. There's little doubt that he was prone to exaggeration, if not outright lies, to shamelessly manipulate the likes of Czar Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra.

Still, there may have been something otherworldly and metaphysical about him. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to diagnose ailments and fathom "cures" that managed to deliver people a measure of health or peace. Eyewitness accounts drove home the common impression that Rasputin had a Kaa the Snake-like ability to seduce and hypotize people with his gaze.

Fuhrmann sometimes gets hung up on the dryer, less fascinating aspects of Rasputin's life, but spends an equal amount of time sorting out the more sultry aspects of his existence, as well as how his sexual exploits resonated in his reputation both at court and in his own home.

Curtis Sisco's narration of the Audible version is workmanlike, if unspectacular. Robotic narration inflects an entrancing rhythm to the proceedings. Some awkward pronunciations of dates aside, the performance lends gravitas to the scholarly yet relatable work.

While far from the final word on the confounding historical figure, Fuhrmann's book goes a long way toward separating the noise from the fact to craft a believable portrait of the man, rather than just the myth and legend.

Publisher provided review code.

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"Office Quest" Review

An imaginative monochromatic point-and-click adventure game, "Office Quest" pokes fun at cubicle drone culture while interspersing absurd and fantastical elements.

Developer 11Sheep retooled the game for a Switch release several months after debuting it on PC and mobile platforms. It's a superb fit for the system. The side-scrolling, screen-tapping exploits make for an excellent use of the system in portable mode.

The gameplay may be a bit incongruous on TV, because it was designed with the intimacy of a portable screen in mind, but works surprisingly well, thanks much to the finely-tuned controls.

As a corporate slave used to the same routine, your world is thrown into a tizzy once you encounter bizarre magic that transforms your everyday surroundings into monster-like threats. You'r enot much for combat, so you have to think your way out of harried situations, calling upon the right items and proper times.

Whenever you run into a road block, the game doesn't leave you hanging or force you to trudge off in shame in search of a walkthrough. Subtle, helpful hints help you advance.

The fact that the dev team keeps the flow moving is key, because "Office Quest" thrives on its fluid momentum. Bubbling with wit and ingenuity, "Office Quest" is an ideal way to kill off your lunchbreak or commute in your own office drone existence.

Publisher provided review code.

"Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes" Review

Back in the heyday of the Wii, developers bubbled with wild ideas in an effort to steal the console's massive, largely casual audience toward more eclectic fare. Visionary developer Suda51 and his Grasshopper Manufacture led the charge with the subversive action extravaganza "No More Heroes" (2007) and its follow-up, subtitled "Desperate Struggle," released three years later.

And for the next decade, crickets.

It took similar innovation and hot sales numbers to revive Suda51's bizarro dream for a Nintendo console. Here comes the third game in the series, "Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes," seemingly out of nowhere, with the devastating force of a hurricane and every bit as much vigor. Somehow, the nine years that have passed between the last game and the new one seem like nothing at all.

The "No More Heroes" games tie together the oddly parallel phenomena of the Wii and Switch. Like the previous games, and nearly all of Grasshopper Manufacture's oeuvre, a wicked sense of humor permeates every pixel. Self-aware, sardonic and sassy, the narrative abounds with pop culture, film, music and gaming references, never missing an opportunity to wink and nod, down to the title font that echoes "Stranger Things."

There are countless strange, stranger and strangest things to encounter in Travis Touchdown's latest adventure. Unspooling via a retro-tinged, top-down view rather than the slick yet somewhat forced and disorienting over-the-shoulder view of the original games, "Travis Strikes Again" steps back and lets its light saber-fueled combat speak for itself.

Zipping along with a sense of forward momentum that the previous games tended to lose in awkward bottlenecks, "Travis Strikes Again" hardly pauses for breath, ever surging ahead with an invigorating sense of wacky, iconoclastic glee.

With the villainous Badman out to get revenge on Travis for the murder of his psychotic daughter, he's sucked into a 1990s-style video game realm. Long since having gone into a depressive, gaming-fueled hermetic exile, Travis's obsession pays off well. As he romps through the gaming world -- which stands as a funhouse mirror reflection of the highs and lows of gaming culture over the past two decades -- his skills pay off well.

Beloved aspects from the previous games come back into play. The pump-action act of maintaining the charge on your weapon has a nagging yet distinguishing feel, helping you stay on edge for battle. Enemies barrage you with the relentless swarm of a bullet hell space dock, and it's on you to orchestrate your offensive and defensive skills to slash them into bits and unlock the next checkpoint.

More linear in nature than previous "No More Heroes" games, Suda51's latest maintains the series' rich history while also writing its new chapters in irreverent freehand. You never quite know where the story's twists will take you next, and the unpredictability makes for a fascinating, endlessly engaging ride.

Travis Touchdown re-emerges as the quintessential -- if not essential -- antihero Switch players deserve, even if they may not quite need him.
Publisher provided review code.

Book Report: "Frankenstein"

I wonder if any other literary classic has been as thoroughly bastardized, maimed and arbitrarily altered as “Frankenstein.” 

The lumbering, monosyllabic, parched-together zombie that movies and TV have pushed out into society have nothing in common with the monster in the book, an eloquent, monologue-reciting student of Milton and Plato who moves with the stealth of a ninja, makes his kills with swift, purposeful precision and badly needed a therapist or some Prozac.

The ultimate bitter teenager, the monster is a fascinating villain because of his hatred of existence itself and resentment of his creator. His obsession with bending Frankenstein (a neurotic, ever-lamenting ness rather than a wacky mad scientist) to his will, tormenting him in increasingly sadistic ways, makes for the crux of the cat-and-mouse game at the center of the plot.

Dan Stevens’ narration of the Audible edition was crucial to my appreciation of the book. Not only does he capture the frenzied paranoia of Frankenstein, but the obliviously evil whininess of the monster. His is now the voice I associate with the creature, rather than Boris Karloff’s grunts.

The book is a deep, philosophical dive into scientific ethics, the plight of creation and godship, as well has humanity’s innate tendency to shun the unfamiliar and unsightly. 

After a rough, slow-paced opening segment, Shelley hits her stride and tears at her themes and story with overwhelming passion. This is a work or near genius, and I was often floored at its majesty. Her work, ahead of its time and now out of control and debased, is much the same as the monster she writes about.

Publisher provided review copy.

PHIL ON FILM: "The Upside"

For my written review, click here.

"Double Cross" Review

The makers of Runbow are back at it in "Double Cross," a mashup of "Mega Man" shooting, platforming, level selection and combat with a traditional side-scrolling brawler concept.

You play as an interdimensional agent who hops among planes of reality to maintain the balance of power. Harvesting a power-building resource dubbed "upgradium," you gradually build your character into a formidable force of spastic, justice-dealing destruction.

Character customization options allow you to deck out your hero with an increasingly impressive selection of offensive accoutrements, and the ability to take down levels and accompanying bosses in whatever order you choose grants a sense of freedom along with an urge to discover the ideal order to take them down.

Each level brings something new to the forefront, drastically twisting the mechanics to keep you adjusting and recalibrating your skills and techniques.

Bright, colorful and slickly paced, the peppy art design matches the freewheeling feel of the fisticuffs. "Double Cross" may or may not hit as big as "Runbow" did, but if it falls short it won't be for lack of vigor.

Those in need of a fun, slick alternative to "Mega Man 11" and the "Mega Man X Legacy" series will find a megadose of thrills here.

Publisher provided review code.

PHIL ON FILM: "Escape Room"

For my full review, click here.

Book Report: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Of all Mark Twain's considerable gifts, perhaps the greatest was that which allowed him to remember just what it was like to be a kid.

Childhood is not the time of whimsical innocence that adults tend to revise it as, but a plight of constant stresses, unlimited analysis and grandiose plans constructed, obliterated and reformed. His portrait of Tom Sawyer is of a troubled young genius longing to find his place in the world, bristling against the unnatural restrictions society thrusts upon him.

Twain revels in the elaborate rituals and flighty superstitions of his small-town, mid-19th century youth. He treats Sawyer, Huck Finn and their orbit of pals with respect and dignity, while casting the adults who surround them as hapless stooges. In a sense, he sees the world just as he did as a child, and just as children continue to do. Kids have a fresh-eyed way of breaking down the nonsense that adults surround themselves with, and Twain never lost that sense of incisive deconstruction.

As he does in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," Audible narrator Nick Offerman channels the late author's sly wittiness and thick, Southern-fried bravado. Offerman's existence is a compelling argument that reincarnation exists, and Twain's voice has come back in the form of his thick baritone.

As beautifully descriptive as it is wickedly funny, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" transcends its genre of young adult literature and takes its place among the ranks of glorious fiction. Its lessons and philosophical observations are as timeless and golden as the ephemeral, daring glow of youth.

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