Spot Reviews 05/23/25
May 23 2025
Elevation (2024) [/] Post-apocalyptic Earth after it's overrun by monsters except the monsters don't go above 8000 feet so the few human survivors live there. Set in Colorado, Will (Anthony Mackie) needs to go down to Boulder for medical supplies for his ailing son. Nina (Morena Baccarin) is a scientist who may have a way to kill the monsters but her last attempt ended up killing Will's wife. Katie (Maddie Hasson) tags along because she likes Will. The movie is them going to Boulder, avoiding/fighting monsters, and getting back and it has a small setup for a sequel because turns out the monsters are extra-terrestrial which means some alien race sent them to wipe out humanity (the monsters only target people and they're drawn by exhaled carbon dioxide). It's an ok film, fairly low budget but well implemented.
Cooking Mama: Cuisine! (2022) [/] A cooking simulator exclusively on Apple Arcade. Choose ingredients (as you get better new ingredients added) then go through several steps to prepare the ingredients. Cutting is swiping, flipping is swipe down then up, stirring is swipe in a circle, sprinkle is swipe up and down repeatedly. For each step you have about 15 seconds to do it right and get three stars and at the end you have a prepared dish. Meanwhile Mama encourages you, there is happy music, and the graphics are cartoony though the dishes look good. But it doesn’t really seem like much of a game and I guess this is more of a kid’s game. Note: unlike most Apple Arcade games, Cuisine seems to be a limited version for Let’s Cook rather than the same or better version.
Subway Surfers Tag (2022) [/] Apple Arcade arena brawler game where you control a teen skateboarder. You go into an arena, collect coins/powerups/weapons and fight off the guard and guard robots while tagging things, riding rails, and doing tricks. You keep going until you die but there are new arenas for variety. Probably plays great with a controller but was fine with fingers (virtual joystick and auto-aim). Didn't find it that entertaining but it's a good polished game.
Joy Sushi, San Mateo - Tokbokki [/] Joy Sushi has some K-Food items and when we went there for dinner I had the Tokbokki ($16). “Stir-fried rice cake with fish cake in Korean chili sauce.” Thinly sliced fish cake with wide circular noodles in a tomato-y sauce and fairly spicy (definitely strong spice but not uneatable). Seems like a fairly basic “home cooking” sort of dish and sometimes see this on K-Drama shows. Pretty good.
Nescafé Black Roast [/] Instant coffee. Tastes horrid even with milk and that may indicate I make my usual coffee a bit light. Still, it’s a quick coffee fix without using the coffee maker and also allows me to make double-strong servings. And the taste is about as unappealing as the other instant coffee I had from Trader Joe’s.
Cooking Mama: Cuisine! (2022) [/] A cooking simulator exclusively on Apple Arcade. Choose ingredients (as you get better new ingredients added) then go through several steps to prepare the ingredients. Cutting is swiping, flipping is swipe down then up, stirring is swipe in a circle, sprinkle is swipe up and down repeatedly. For each step you have about 15 seconds to do it right and get three stars and at the end you have a prepared dish. Meanwhile Mama encourages you, there is happy music, and the graphics are cartoony though the dishes look good. But it doesn’t really seem like much of a game and I guess this is more of a kid’s game. Note: unlike most Apple Arcade games, Cuisine seems to be a limited version for Let’s Cook rather than the same or better version.
Subway Surfers Tag (2022) [/] Apple Arcade arena brawler game where you control a teen skateboarder. You go into an arena, collect coins/powerups/weapons and fight off the guard and guard robots while tagging things, riding rails, and doing tricks. You keep going until you die but there are new arenas for variety. Probably plays great with a controller but was fine with fingers (virtual joystick and auto-aim). Didn't find it that entertaining but it's a good polished game.
Joy Sushi, San Mateo - Tokbokki [/] Joy Sushi has some K-Food items and when we went there for dinner I had the Tokbokki ($16). “Stir-fried rice cake with fish cake in Korean chili sauce.” Thinly sliced fish cake with wide circular noodles in a tomato-y sauce and fairly spicy (definitely strong spice but not uneatable). Seems like a fairly basic “home cooking” sort of dish and sometimes see this on K-Drama shows. Pretty good.
Nescafé Black Roast [/] Instant coffee. Tastes horrid even with milk and that may indicate I make my usual coffee a bit light. Still, it’s a quick coffee fix without using the coffee maker and also allows me to make double-strong servings. And the taste is about as unappealing as the other instant coffee I had from Trader Joe’s.