INSCRYPTION is the Best Video Game of 2021
INSCRYPTION is the best game I played in 2021. What sets this twisty roguelike deckbuilder apart from so many others?
Author: Calvin Cleary
The Best Video Essays of 2021
2021 produced a lot of great video essays around pop culture. These are the ten best ones we saw all year.
SINGLE ALL THE WAY is surprisingly charming
The Holiday Industrial Complex at Netflix remains unexpectedly strong with the charming, quirky SINGLE ALL THE WAY.
PIG is Nicolas Cage at his best
PIG is an unexpected delight, giving Nic Cage perhaps his finest role ever in a touching drama about a man and his pig.
SCARE ME is a great movie about storytelling
SCARE ME upends the expectations of the horror anthology with a smart, funny story about short, spooky stories.
TAMMY AND THE T-REX is a New Cult Classic
TAMMY AND THE T-REX should be as beloved a cult object as THE ROOM or BIRDEMIC. This recently rediscovered gem is not to be missed.
UNPACKING is 2021’s most relaxing game
UNPACKING is a simple, relaxing puzzle game that manages to have some of the best environmental storytelling I’ve seen in ages.
Where did GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE go wrong?
GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE dropped on Netflix, and, despite a stellar cast, vanished almost immediately into the Content Hole. What went wrong?
VOICE OF CARDS: THE ISLE DRAGON ROARS Review
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a throwback JRPG that looks fantastic but plays a little too conservatively to warrant interest.
DUNE, Decadence, and Fatness
DUNE: PART ONE is a masterpiece of science fiction. It is also part of a longstanding demonization of fatness that came to a head for me in 2021.
Remake THE LOVE PARADE
The Love Parade, one of the earliest movie musicals, is streaming now on the Criterion Channel. Fun but flawed, this one is ripe for a remake.
METROID DREAD: A Nintendo Switch Review
Samus Aran is back with a vengeance as the long-in-development METROID DREAD has finally come out. Can it live up to decades of expectation?
The 15 Best Metroidvanias of All Time
The forefather of all metroidvanias is coming back this week in Metroid Dread. If you’re interested in learning more about the genre, start here.
How to review a movie like MALIGNANT?
Malignant is a classy, pricey take on the Troma-esque exploitation film. Unexpectedly, it absolutely delivers on that promise.
WEREWOLVES WITHIN is a delight
Calling Werewolves Within the best video game movie ever made is damning it with faint praise. This is a genuinely charming character-driven horror-comedy with a phenomenal cast.