Reviews

The Perfect Family Comedy?

Home Alone is the first movie in the iconic comedy movie series directed by Chris Columbus. Having aired in movie theatres in 1990, the movie has since become a giant success and earned a whopping 475 million dollars in revenue. Sometimes it is even referred to as the best family- friendly comedy out there.

The film begins with a scene of the McCallister family preparing for a trip to Paris. Kevin eventually gets into an argument with the family for deliberately misbehaving and claims he couldn’t care less about the trip, is fed up with his family and wants to live alone. Coincidentally, the next morning, having been left in the cellar of the house, Kevin gets completely forgotten about and left behind. Chaos within the family ensues.

Actors of the movie include Macaulay Culkin (Kevin), Catherine O’Hara (Kate McCallister), John Heard (Peter McCallister), Joe Pesci (Harry), Daniel Stern (Marv) and many others.

The acting throughout the Home Alone series (particularly in the first two movies) is superb. The characters perfectly mimic emotions and exaggerate where needed to cause various emotional responses from the viewer. The hilarious comedic nature of the movie is evident with hit sounds and emotional responses of sorts relevantly amplified to a large extent to almost create a slapstick comedy experience in some scenes. The characters feel alive and appeal to the viewer by having a genuine individual personality evident and consistent during interactions between the characters.

A minor amount of CGI is present throughout the movie, with the majority of the satisfaction generated by the film coming from highly realistic destructible and intractable props, such as breakable doors and fake blowtorches, which never fail to create an eccentric and/or humorous response from one or more of the characters.

The music present in the movie is always relevant to the scene, whether during a chase where intense orchestral pieces create additional tension or a Christmas tune playing in the background while a dressed tree is being shown.

The plot of the movie at first seems quite simple with a generic American family being shown preparing for a trip abroad. However, that quickly changes when Kevin gets left behind- the characters have to improvise on the go (especially Kevin himself) to try and find a way to ensure his safety. This makes room for a lot of creative potential, which is where the film really shines and hooks the viewer for the entirety of its duration.

In conclusion, I would say that this truly is one of the best family comedies available. The eccentric plot, spot-on acting and relevant humor merge for an unforgettable experience worth your time. So, if you are looking for a movie to enjoy with your family after a long day of work or during the weekend- the Home Alone series in general is a great place to kick off your family’s movie watching experience.

By Michael Anisimov

Forza Horizon 4 is a game like no other.

This incredible game is a sequel to Forza Horizon 3 that was released in 2016. Forza is an open world racing game that now has an even bigger and better world. Everything takes place in a fictionalised Great Britain, meaning the drivers have to follow the left-hand driving laws- same as in the real world. The game is compatible with PS4, XBOX and PC, but nothing beats the experience of a steering wheel rather than a controller.

Every real -time week ,the season will change bringing a new look to the world in the game: every day there are more Forza challenges to complete, and every hour there is a real time event for up to 11 drivers to participate in. All of this is on top of the original Horizon experience: racing, rally, drift, drag, editing your own event with the horizon blueprint, that's a lot. The new online shared world is a place where 12 real people meet to complete challenges, find abandoned cars or just cruise around the huge map. People that don't like multiplayer can still battle against AI even inside of the lobby: pausing, rewinding, that all still works even online and strangers are also ghosted on contact both in 'freeroam' and 'forzathon' challenges so no-one can interrupt your cruising or stunting unless you link up and join a convoy with them. It's worthwhile to participate in because the points we collect from completing 'forzathon' challenges forms a second in-game currency. These points can be redeemed in a seperate shop for rare cars and emotes. Most of the stuff can also be won from slot machines as you level up, it should be noted that there are no micro-transactions involved.

I've had a taste of all seasons but the one I liked the most is probably autumn. There just seems to be so much detail from the spectrum of color to the trees as their leaves die off to the soggy roadside puddles. Winter is awesome too, it's not just the world turning white. The landscape takes on an entirely new identity. A massive increase in elevation differences is also something Forza Horizon 3 didn't quite have. Having horizon roads with so many hills makes up for an interesting driving experience.

The supporting range of cars is the biggest that has ever been in the series with over 650 cars to choose from. With rides ranging from the 59 kilogram Peel p50 to the ludicrously large Unimog.

To summarise, I think this is a great game for people that like cars and racing. The game has a lot to do and you will certainly not get bored playing it. If you decide to play it, I advise you to buy a racing wheel if your budget allows you: it will certainly feel much more genuine and amusing.

By Alexey Gretchman

The best game ever? Emotions that go through the side of your mind: you want to cry!

In the end of February of 2020, the great platformer (metroidvania) game Ori and the Will of the Wisps of Microsoft and Moon studios was released as the second part of the story about the friendly forest spirit Ori and his family. The game is set in the surroundings of the dead-resurgent forest, Nibel, of the magic world still partly shrouded in darkness and poison waters of the swamp. The great soundtrack was written by Garet Coker.

The plot of Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the rescue of a small owl which was born from the Curo egg lost in a still dark part of the forest. Improved physics and graphics makes the game a little bit more realistic and magical at the same time. The rate of the game is medium, but is a little bit faster than in the previous part because of the improved fighting system by introducing new spells and “ghost weapons”, and in this way it makes fights more dynamic.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a very emotional game with a nearly mute way of narration and, at the same time ,a very sensitive picture which is made by the look, poses, howls and moans of the main characters. It sometimes even made me cry by watching the cut scenes in the dark room, coiled up in the evening with a cup of hot tea on the table.

The quality of storytelling is enormously good because the way of it is part-telling (after you are reaching some point, or finish some mission) by which you can’t just read the whole story in one moment. All parts of the game had been strongly improved from the time of the previous part of the story, not only because of innovative processors which can now do much more work, but also because of 2 years of working on the project. Little improvements in optimisation and physics could be improved (a few times game crashes and I got stuck in a wall, but at all it was quite good),

If you like platformers in a highly upgraded 'Mario style', you will certainly like this game. You can choose any difficulty you want.

There are alot of different advantages, so let’s first speak about them:

• Graphics and graphical effects: great, one of the best that I think can be in this type of games

• Music: great soundtrack and sounds

• Story: enormously beautifully written story and a great way of storytelling (see above)

• Controls: very easy

Disadvantages of Ori and the Will of the Wisps are:

• Cost: 589 Rubles (quite expensive)

This game gave me more than 20 hours of great time spent (you can understand why from what I have written above) and I want so many more such good games to appear on Steam and on other platforms.

Everyone who likes emotions, Mario and/or platformers will like this game, even if you've never seen anything like it.

By Leon Filippov

Money Heist is a Netflix series launched in 2017 and has 4 interesting seasons under its belt with episodes of around an hour each. The plot is very interesting: 9 robbers plan and execute a heist in the Royal Mint of Spain and the police have to find a way to stop them and save the hostages.

This Spanish heist show follows the robbers, hostages and cops involved. All 8 robbers have nicknames and their leader is simply called "The Professor". The Professor is the mastermind behind the heist who brings our criminals together to live in a villa for months to make sure the planning and execution is perfect. This story unfolds through both real time during the heist and flashbacks leading up to the heist. It is narrated by one of the robbers code name "Tokyo". She gives insight to the heist itself and the characters involved in this massive and complex chess game. Of course we have the smart law inspector, Raquel, and her desperate partner, Angel, who are the main negotiators making sure this heist ends quickly and without casualties.

This is another fantastic foreign show brought to us by Netflix. All the characters are fully realized and are all written in a great way that gives the viewer a really good idea as to everyone's stories and, of course, solid acting helps. As mentioned, the narration by Tokyo adds another level that guides us to the intricacies of the heist. The editing and pacing are very well done, all aspects of the heist are shown to us as they unfold and the flashbacks show the preparation process to keep us in the loop!

Not many negatives at all here. There were a couple additions made to characters' stories later on that would have been better brought to light earlier on in the season but that did not make too much of a difference either way. Also, a couple of moments where the story slowed down a bit when you think it would ramp up almost making it a bit boring but again those moments are a minor detail in this show.

Overall this is a fantastic show and is well worth your time.

By Alexey Gretchman

A worthy sequel or not?

Doom Eternal, being a sequel to the 2016 reboot of the FPS genre father- the Doom game series, makes loads of new, yet controversial changes while conserving core gameplay elements, significantly improving its storytelling aspect and, of course, keeping Mick Gordon as the lead composer of the rebooted Doom’s mighty fine metal soundtrack. Will these changes appeal to you or not?

The game begins a short while after 2016’s ending- you have been teleported to the so-called Fortress of Doom by Samuel Hayden to prevent you from interfering with his plans. You then awaken only to observe that you have to ‘do it all again’- prevent the collapse of humanity from another demonic invasion, except this time it is on Earth. However, the experience is guaranteed to be radically different from the previous game due to the giant range of innovations and gameplay changes introduced to the game, which, in my opinion, had an exclusively positive impact on the game.

Doom, this time around, instead of traditionally being a “mindlessly kill and saw everything that moves in half” type of game, has made a huge emphasis on resource management and movement technique. You now cannot spam the super shotgun and rocket launcher while ignoring the rest of your arsenal like you could in 2016, and instead have to use specific weapons with adequate mods to take out enemies’ (of which, by the way, there are almost twice as many compared to 2016) weak points from afar and then get closer to them and finish them off with your powerful close-range weaponry while exploiting the environment to your favor. The game’s motto has essentially become “flame belch for armor, chainsaw for ammo, and glory kill for health” instead of “rip and tear, until it is done”.

On the movement side of things- the game has become significantly more vertical by introducing good ol’ platforming to traverse the map and evade enemies- monkey bars, climbable walls and platforms of various types allow the player to be much more mobile than in 2016, giving a constant feeling of freedom (insert ‘Murica jokes here). Other gadgets and abilities, such as blood punch (an AOE melee attack which deals massive damage) and the crucible- yes, you heard me right- you can now use the crucible in-game to get rid of almost every demon in one quick slice (you only get to do so three times until you find a refill for one “slice”). Grenades are now disposed via the handy new equipment launcher which allows the Slayer to simultaneously throw grenades and shoot instead of having to manually yeet the nade. Worth mentioning is the fact that there even is a swimming mechanic. Even though this might sound like way too much to manage during combat- I personally experienced no trouble in doing so at all even when playing on Nightmare difficulty (speaking of which, the difficulty settings all remain the same). Instead, all these new mechanics prevent the gameplay from becoming linear and repetitive- a problem from which 2016 suffered quite a bit. This also makes fights considerably more intense- to the point where Ultra-Violence felt similar to 2016’s nightmare. However, I quickly got used to the combat loop and moved on to Nightmare. Ultra-nightmare remains the go-to for the ultimate tryhard.

The story- I personally didn’t focus too much on the story, since I am somewhat of a gameplay man myself. However, it is very well written, engaging and definitely worth paying attention to. The true fans out there will love it, especially considering the heaps of lore that have been added to the game. If you want yourself some spoilers- keep in mind that none will be found here.

The soundtrack deserves a paragraph on its own- it is out of this world in terms of quality (judgement comes from a metalhead). Mick Gordon has, again, outdone himself. The music this time is significantly more aggressive and almost every combat track is somewhat similar to “BFG Division”. My personal favorite this time around is “BFG 10000" (What a match).

The multiplayer is quite fun and eccentric and nothing like that of 2016’s. The new mode allows you to control a demon and team up with another player or play as the Slayer and fight out a 2v1 on map segments from the campaign. It is an experience worth trying, but nothing out-of-the-world level good.

The verdict- Doom Eternal is a must have if you enjoyed 2016 and are a fan. The new mechanics will have you engaged throughout the game due to the progression system, the gameplay will fascinate you and the story will be more than enjoyable, especially if you are into lore. Overall, the game feels way less ‘formal’ and more ‘cartoonish’, but equally gruesome and visceral. The graphics have experienced a noticeable improvement, but nothing too special. My final rating is a 10/10- this is everything the Doom community expected to get- it is an improvement of 2016 in almost every possible way and beyond.

The only way in my opinion to get better than that is to improve the multiplayer by providing the community with new maps and fixing bugs (of which there are exceptionally few).

By Michael Anisimov

I'm going to write about a book called 'No Longer Human', which is a Japanese novel written in 1948 by Dazai Osamu. Now it is considered as the second-best selling novel in Japan. Some people also translate the title as ‘Disqualified from Being Human’. Some parts of the book are written as a diary and include autobiographical notes. The whole book is divided into an introduction, three memorandiums and a conclusion. Some people believe that the novel was some sort of a ‘will’ or a ‘confession’ because it was one of the last books he wrote before he commited suicide in June 1948.

The main character is named Oba Yozo, a young man whose life is generally described in the novel. The book starts with describing his early childhood, his family and life conditions. Then it gradually moves towards depicting his teenage school life, portraying him as an adult, and ends on imaging him in his late twenties. The main character’s fundamental problem was his feeling of being different from the others and being incapable of revealing his true self to people. Just in the beginning of the book, Yozo states that the only solution for him is to maintain a false image of hollow jocularity, to act and pretend to be like the others. He aims to live the life of an ordinary person. The novel shows his way of trying to disengage from thinking about the meaning of specifically his own life.

From my point of view this novel includes some deep philosophical thoughts, and lets the reader to view the world from a slightly different perspective. I also think that the writer was successful in describing the character's position due to his skill of focusing readers’ attention not on the events and actions but on the emotions and feelings the individual experienced throughout the story.

However on the other hand I think that the plot is still a bit too simple and short. If the writer added some more details, it would be my favorite book.

By Anna Masalova