Spot Reviews 02/16/24
Feb 16 2024
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) [+] Set in 1969 Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is now an old professor who gets embroiled into finding the Dial of Destiny by his god daughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Walter-Bridge). It's a globe-trotting adventure of pulp action vs Nazis led by Jüegen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) who wants to use the Dial to go back in time and change WWII. Cameo appearances by John Rhys-Davies as Sallah and Karen Allen as Marion... I liked it a lot because it harkens back to the first film. Dial of Destiny is a fun romp and doesn't try to be more like what the in-between films tried and failed.
The Sky is Everywhere (2022) [/] Apple TV+ drama film. Gifted musician Lennie (Grace Kaufman) grieves a year later after losing her older sister Bailey (Havana Rose Liu) so much that her music is gone. Enter Joe (Jacques Colimon), handsome newcomer at school who plays the same instrument. There’s a budding romance there though Lennie’s grief threatens to ruin it… It’s an ok film with an unusual cinematography showing Lennie’s imagination going wild at times.
Run On (2020) [-] South Korean romance drama. Seon-gyeom (Im Si-wan) is a national track athlete. Mi-joo (Shin Se-kyung) is a struggling translator trying to break into the movie translation business. After she gets a temp job translating for him during a week-long press event they start forming a bond which gets stressed because he’s very taciturn and often leaves out important clarifying details when he speaks. Overall not really that great of a romance. There’s a B plot involving Dan-ah (Choi Soo-young), who runs her own ad agency, and college artist Yeong-hwa (Kang Tae-oh) who’s art captivates Dan-ah. But she has low empathy which stymies his attempts at romancing her. I liked the B plot more because it seemed more romantic whereas the main plot didn’t feel all that romantic to me. In the end a disappointing series which I almost dropped after watching three episodes but the fourth was finally interesting enough to keep going.
Tejas y Chocotejas Sra Buendia, Lima, Peru [+] Receive a package of chocolates from my cousin. It’s chewy chocolate and either plain or along with a filling. Covered with a hard candy shell that breaks easily. It’s quite good and feels like it’s loaded with sugar and calories.
Hitchhiker - A Mystery Game (2021) [/] Apple Arcade first-person-view game, though you're always the passenger in a car so the pfw is looking around at the driver, car interior, and the outside. The driver talks to you and you have two response choices. You can examine items, some of which go into your backpack. Mysterious things happen like items can suddenly appear or the driver knows a bit too much about you. It was getting interesting even with the first of five drivers but I hit a bug where my backpack was emptied and I needed to look at one of the items to progress. Restarting didn't seem to work and I didn't want to restart the whole game (there are no save points to go back to). Still it's light and interesting enough that I might have played it through... Actually it was removed from Apple Arcade Jan 18th so the backpack bug might be because of that. You can get the game on Steam for $15 which would be too pricey for me.
The Sky is Everywhere (2022) [/] Apple TV+ drama film. Gifted musician Lennie (Grace Kaufman) grieves a year later after losing her older sister Bailey (Havana Rose Liu) so much that her music is gone. Enter Joe (Jacques Colimon), handsome newcomer at school who plays the same instrument. There’s a budding romance there though Lennie’s grief threatens to ruin it… It’s an ok film with an unusual cinematography showing Lennie’s imagination going wild at times.
Run On (2020) [-] South Korean romance drama. Seon-gyeom (Im Si-wan) is a national track athlete. Mi-joo (Shin Se-kyung) is a struggling translator trying to break into the movie translation business. After she gets a temp job translating for him during a week-long press event they start forming a bond which gets stressed because he’s very taciturn and often leaves out important clarifying details when he speaks. Overall not really that great of a romance. There’s a B plot involving Dan-ah (Choi Soo-young), who runs her own ad agency, and college artist Yeong-hwa (Kang Tae-oh) who’s art captivates Dan-ah. But she has low empathy which stymies his attempts at romancing her. I liked the B plot more because it seemed more romantic whereas the main plot didn’t feel all that romantic to me. In the end a disappointing series which I almost dropped after watching three episodes but the fourth was finally interesting enough to keep going.
Tejas y Chocotejas Sra Buendia, Lima, Peru [+] Receive a package of chocolates from my cousin. It’s chewy chocolate and either plain or along with a filling. Covered with a hard candy shell that breaks easily. It’s quite good and feels like it’s loaded with sugar and calories.
Hitchhiker - A Mystery Game (2021) [/] Apple Arcade first-person-view game, though you're always the passenger in a car so the pfw is looking around at the driver, car interior, and the outside. The driver talks to you and you have two response choices. You can examine items, some of which go into your backpack. Mysterious things happen like items can suddenly appear or the driver knows a bit too much about you. It was getting interesting even with the first of five drivers but I hit a bug where my backpack was emptied and I needed to look at one of the items to progress. Restarting didn't seem to work and I didn't want to restart the whole game (there are no save points to go back to). Still it's light and interesting enough that I might have played it through... Actually it was removed from Apple Arcade Jan 18th so the backpack bug might be because of that. You can get the game on Steam for $15 which would be too pricey for me.