Stop-Motion Splendor – Wildwood Review

There’s no denying it – Wildwood is an absolutely beautiful looking film. Laika’s character design and amazing execution of stop-motion film-making are here in full force, with a clear commitment to making as much of the film by hand as possible. The craft oozes out of every scene, and it’s extra special that in a time of AI-generated slop masquerading as art you can feel the fingerprints of a human on everything bought to life on screen.

Not All Set-Up Is Created Equal

Set-up and pay-off are two things that are key to telling any good story – whether aiming for a satisfying ending to an epic or trying to land a great joke in a comedy, a punchline or story beat that comes from nowhere is bound to leave your audience unimpressed and unfulfilled.

It’s All To Play For – Crimson Desert Review

When a friend showed me a trailer for Crimson Desert, I was a bit bemused. He was excited because it looked like a mix of “The Witcher 3 and a Souls game”. I wasn’t planning to buy the game, but a key came free with my new graphics card: So here I am reviewing a game that cost me nothing, but on paper offers nearly everything.

In Space No One Can Hear you Beam – Project Hail Mary review

When Ridley Scott’s The Martian did gangbusters in 2015, adapting another of Andy Weir’s novels was a bankable inevitability. Just over a decade later, the dynamic directing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have brought us the similarly sunny Project Hail Mary. The film follows Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) as he awakens on a spaceship, finding he’s the last alive of a three-strong crew and with no idea who he is or where he is.

Souls-Like, But Not Souls-Love – A Remnant II feature

At time of writing, I have 124.7 hours in Remnant II. I’ve beat the game on the middle-ish difficulty, and all the DLC campaigns on the middle-high difficulty. Despite this, I’ll drop this curious bomb: I only kind of like this game.

Don’t F**k With The Science Team! – Abiotic Factor Review

I’m no stranger to the Survival game bug…I’m happy to report that there’s finally another cool kid on the block: Abiotic Factor (2025) from developer Deep Field Games.

Count Me In – Nosferatu (2024) Review

For newcomers and vampire veterans alike, Nosferatu (2024) presents a gripping tale of romance, loneliness and lust. Eggers has proved that Gothic horror cinema never died – it was just waiting for the sun to set to slink out of its coffin.

Hasn’t It Been a While?

So, it’s another one of these posts again, is it? A catch-up/ where-have-I-been type posts? You betcha! However, there will be some creative stuff in the end section, I promise. So, let’s get to it and start filling in the blanks as to what’s been going on with me for since June 2023.

Don’t be an Artshole: How to discuss art without being an arse about it

JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK SOMETHING IS GOOD, THAT DOES NOT MAKE IT OBJECTIVELY GOOD.

As I said in March, this goes for any kind of criticism or opinion, but it was another post for another time – and that time is now.

Monsters in the Cupboard – Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities review

An anthology is always an interesting prospect. Whether it’s flash fiction, short films or short comics, sometimes it’s just nice to dig into a collection of bite-sized stories. However, I can see why anthologies may put people of: Not everyone likes shorter media and the potential downsides it brings; it can also be tricky if you don’t connect with many of the stories or overarching themes within a collection.

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One man's musings on writing, films, video games and literature