All posts by Joe Donato

I'm an enthusiast and writer for video games and film, interested in criticism and sharing my dumb opinions with all of you.
Review, Video Games

The MISSING – Game Review

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Game director Hidetaka “SWERY” Suehiro has a knack for elevating an average game experience in a way that makes a formal review challenging. Much like his previous titles Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die, The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories tells a powerful story, but it forces players to endure some tedious gameplay to see it through.

At the outset, the game introduces a mystical island with “the power to awaken the formative memories of all its visitors.” From there, we are introduced to J.J. and Emily. The game shows the pair sharing a warm moment together, camping out on the island and staring up at the stars. After a quick fade to black, the tone goes from heartfelt to twisted. Emily goes missing, calling out to J.J. in a warped voice similar to the red room denizens of Twin Peaks. Much like Deadly Premonition and D4, The MISSING does not shy away from these sorts of Lynchian stylings. Continue reading The MISSING – Game Review →

Film, Opinion

BlacKkKlansman and the Hollywood “True Story”

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Be aware: You should probably watch BlacKkKlansman before reading this…

My initial viewing of Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman was taken at face value. “If the movie is saying it’s true, then it’s probably mostly true,” my stupid brain told me for the five hundredth time I’ve seen the title card: “Based on a True Story.” Of course, films always embellish the truth, changing aspects of history for the sake of theme or plot, and BlacKkKlansman changes a lot, all the while presenting itself as “some fo real, fo real shit”.

In the past, that initial face-value assessment of a film was all you had. Unless you were educated in the subject at hand or willing to put in some serious time, it was difficult to confront the legitimacy of these “true” stories. Today, it’s hard to resist the temptation to jump on Google or Wikipedia immediately after the credits roll.

If a film is going to explore a historical topic — especially a more recent one — every twist of the truth is a chance for a positive opinion to sour in retrospect. In the case of BlacKkKlansman, my post-credits examination turned a film I mostly adored into a muddled mess. Continue reading BlacKkKlansman and the Hollywood “True Story” →

Opinion, Video Games

How is Salt & Sanctuary on Switch?

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Back in March 2016, Salt & Sanctuary released a mere nine days before Dark Souls 3. For a Ska Studios fan and Dark Souls-lover like myself, this was enough time that I still sing the game’s praises today. For many, that timing probably caused Salt & Sanctuary to fly under their radar. Now, with the game’s arrival on Switch, and the Dark Souls Remastered release still well over a month away, it may be the perfect time to give this game another look. Continue reading How is Salt & Sanctuary on Switch? →

Film, Review, Uncategorized

Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado – Film Review

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The title Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado evokes memories of straight-to-DVD Blockbuster Video exclusives. The embarrassing marketing, with a skeleton holding an assault rifle, draped in a US flag, doesn’t help. Topping it off with a Rotten Tomatoes score hovering at a disappointing 64%, it seemed safe to say that this would be a Sicario sequel in name only.

Perhaps it helped then, that I watched the original Sicario just two days before. With the original fresh in my mind, I felt like I watched a very different sequel from many critics. Sicario 2 takes the pessimistic worldview of the first film and dives in even deeper, leaving behind Emily Blunt’s Kate Mercer as the one idealist we could root for. We’re left with the morally-ambiguous fixer Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) and revenge-fueled hitman Alejandro (Benecio Del Toro), off on a new mission to shake the hornet’s nest at the US/Mexican border. Continue reading Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado – Film Review →

Film, Review

Best F(r)iends, Part 1 – Film Review

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Best F(r)iends, Part 1 might be a carefully crafted, perfectly executed attempt to replicate the lightning-in-a-bottle that was The Room. It might also be another unintentionally hilarious trainwreck from disaster artists Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau. That this is only part one of a four hour epic only serves to complicate things — is Best F(r)iends the result of incredible hubris on the part of its creators, or a brilliant marketing ploy, ensuring all of Part 1’s guinea pigs return for Part 2 with additional friends in tow?

Best F(r)iends could have been so many things. I had half-expected something darkly serious, with director Justin MacGregor somehow wrangling Tommy Wiseau into a coherent performance. The only other option seemed to be that Best F(r)iends would try to be The Room 2, ultimately failing because you just can’t do something like The Room on purpose. Continue reading Best F(r)iends, Part 1 – Film Review →

Film, Review

Ready Player One – Film Review

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It’s tough to review Ready Player One (the film) on its own merits when so much has been said about Ernest Cline and Ready Player One (the book). I never read the book, so I can’t comment on the minutiae that sets Spielberg’s adaptation apart from the original, but I do know some of the broad strokes.

Cline’s novel obsesses over 80s pop culture, while the film is a free-for-all, referencing everything from Atari games to The Iron Giant and Overwatch. Cline’s novel also gets into some messy territory, mishandling its female characters, dipping its toe into transphobia, and just generally being kind of creepy. The film, conversely, strips out most the problematic details, striving to develop its primary female character with more purpose and agency.

With these changes and streamlining, writer Zak Penn and director Steven Spielberg have crafted a crowd-pleasing, mostly inoffensive adventure (Asian stereotypes notwithstanding — this is Hollywood, after all) packed with surprisingly well-done CG action sequences. They’ve also streamlined to the point of absurdity, presenting a poorly-realized world that makes it difficult to get invested in anything that happens. Continue reading Ready Player One – Film Review →