Spot Reviews 08/30/24
Aug 30 2024
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) [/] A $150M budget Netflix movie. Thirty years later Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns to Beverly Hills to find missing old friend Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and also help his estranged defense attorney daughter Jane (Taylour Paige). Jeffrey (Paul Reiser) is Foley's boss back in Detroit, John Taggart (John Ashton) is now Chief of BHPD, and Serge (Bronson Pinchot) makes a cameo appearance. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Detective Bobby Abbott, Jane's ex-boyfriend who ends up being Axel's partner in crime... It's an 80's style action movie with modern sensibilities. Better writing than BHC 1 and 2 which I just watched. Acting is mostly good though Murphy lacks a little vitality (then again he is playing an old wise-cracking cop).
Super Leap Day (2021) [+] This is an Apple Arcade cartoony arcade game vertical platformer. Your little guys is constantly moving back and forth (he bounces off walls) and you have one control: tap to jump, though you can also double jump. You are constantly moving up platforms and sometimes side to side to different screens. Collect fruits. Various items to interact with such as trampolines, grab handles (to make you stop), and pipes that suck you in. Also supports two players playing on the same level for maximum chaos. Seems quite polished and a fun game though not for me. Seems like a game kids would like but it maybe requires too much skill.
INKS.+ (2021) [/] INKS is a pinball puzzle game. Each level is a different pinball layout with flippers on the bottom and maybe other places. You are trying to hit all the targets in the fewest number of balls. Visually appealing game and fairly challenging if you want to get gold star on every level.
Falling Free (1988) [/] Science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. Although set in her Vorkosigan Saga it's like a couple of hundred years previous to anything else and is a standalone story. Human engineer Leo Graf is assigned to a corporate space station that's been developing Quaddies, a genetically modified human race with two extra arms instead of legs. When the corporation decides the project is a failure Leo comes up with an audacious plan to save the Quaddies from extermination... The story moves quickly, mostly interesting, and I like the engineering bits (Leo often has long speeches about various space engineering things).
Trader Joe's Braised Pork Shoulder in a Fig & Apricot Sauce [/] This is pretty good. Pre-cooked so you just heat it up. I opened the package and cut out some slices and used some sauce, microwave then eat with rice or spaghetti. It is sweeter than I'd like (which is close to zero sweetness). $8 per pound and comes boxed about 1-1/2 pounds.
Super Leap Day (2021) [+] This is an Apple Arcade cartoony arcade game vertical platformer. Your little guys is constantly moving back and forth (he bounces off walls) and you have one control: tap to jump, though you can also double jump. You are constantly moving up platforms and sometimes side to side to different screens. Collect fruits. Various items to interact with such as trampolines, grab handles (to make you stop), and pipes that suck you in. Also supports two players playing on the same level for maximum chaos. Seems quite polished and a fun game though not for me. Seems like a game kids would like but it maybe requires too much skill.
INKS.+ (2021) [/] INKS is a pinball puzzle game. Each level is a different pinball layout with flippers on the bottom and maybe other places. You are trying to hit all the targets in the fewest number of balls. Visually appealing game and fairly challenging if you want to get gold star on every level.
Falling Free (1988) [/] Science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. Although set in her Vorkosigan Saga it's like a couple of hundred years previous to anything else and is a standalone story. Human engineer Leo Graf is assigned to a corporate space station that's been developing Quaddies, a genetically modified human race with two extra arms instead of legs. When the corporation decides the project is a failure Leo comes up with an audacious plan to save the Quaddies from extermination... The story moves quickly, mostly interesting, and I like the engineering bits (Leo often has long speeches about various space engineering things).
Trader Joe's Braised Pork Shoulder in a Fig & Apricot Sauce [/] This is pretty good. Pre-cooked so you just heat it up. I opened the package and cut out some slices and used some sauce, microwave then eat with rice or spaghetti. It is sweeter than I'd like (which is close to zero sweetness). $8 per pound and comes boxed about 1-1/2 pounds.