Written by The Curmudgeon Does anyone remember the PlayStation Vita? … … No? Yeah, me neither. But, regardless of the console’s undeniable forgettability, in some way I have it to thank for a little game called Gravity Rush . In 2012, the slightly -upgraded PSP that is the PS Vita was a receptacle for Gravity Rush , known as Gravity Daze in its native country of Japan. Over the course of 2015-2016, Gravity Rush deservedly received a remastering for the PS4 – you know, a console people actually owned and used – and a stellar sequel in 2017. As it stands, they’re two of my favourite games of all time. And I’m going to tell you why . Now, you might be thinking – if you belong to my currently minuscule  list of readers – why are you writing about one of those videographic games , Mr. Curmudgeon? Aren’t you supposed to be a FILM fellow, Mr. Curmudgeon? Doesn’t it say “Curmudgeon FILM Talk” on the banner above? Good questions, disembodied voice in my...

Written by The Curmudgeon WARNING: The following review requires a familiarity with Breaking Bad . If you haven’t seen it, go watch it – it’s good. SPOILER WARNING: There may be a light SPOILER in this review. The paragraph containing said spoiler will be highlighted in red. After the televisual monolith of Breaking Bad  (2008-2013)   came to a close, people seemed – generally – pretty satisfied. What more is there to add? Walter White (Bryan Cranston) passes in a blazing shot at redemption, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) escapes his captors and drives into the proverbial sunset. So, when the Netflix movie El Camino  (2019)  – a continuation of Breaking Bad – was announced, you can’t blame someone for being more than a little cautious. I was trepidatious with the idea of a Breaking Bad movie. At first, there was no indication of what the film would be, and television rarely translates to film successfully. But the trailers looked incredible, and I quic...

Written by The Curmudgeon I have to admit to being a bit of a sucker for film noir. The old-school capers like A Touch of Evil (1958) and The Killers (1946), or the renaissance “neo-noir” flicks like Blade Runner (1982) or Brick (2005), it’s all the same to me. That said, it’s not a great time to be a fedora-core, noir-nerd like me. The genre doesn’t see much contemporary attention these days, and anyone such as myself is left a bit starved of the grim catharsis those bleak tales and ghostly shadows can provide. That’s why it’s so refreshing to stumble upon a noir you’ve never heard of, never seen, but is nonetheless incredibly fucking good . That, folks, is why I’d like to introduce you to the Red Riding Trilogy . A series of British TV movies aired in 2009, Red Riding stands out, above all else, because it’s so relentlessly real . It skips the romanticism of your typical Raymond Chandler story, trading in the picturesque aesthetic of American city streets for the r...