Excited about the future of DF! Just to confirm that I will continue to make tech analysis videos with Rich and the team.
As part of the move, it also brings to a close my time at Eurogamer. After 14 years and 600 articles it's fair to day it's been an incredible ride, and I'll always be a fan 💙
Yogaaa! I finally made it to Master Rank in Street Fighter 6 using Dhalsim after 300 hours. Incredible game - and my favourite fighter of all time. Now the real challenge begins 😭
A new piano piece I've beeng working on! Hoping it won't be so long between uploads for the next one.
Rippling Keys (Demo) - Thomas Morgan youtu.be/XtoDWNlmtVA?si… via @YouTube
Just picked up a Sam Peckinpah film called "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia" - which is possibly the coolest movie title ever - and I can't wait to see it.
A new gizmo has arrived. I picked this Roland SC-880 synth module up to recreate some 90s game soundtracks, using the original HQ samples.
It's amazing how many classics used this thing. You can hear snippets of Final Fantasy VII, Smash Bros. and Doom while browsing the sounds.
VHS is making a surprise comeback. On HMV these are £30+ each - for brand new VHS tapes of Evil Dead 2, Suspiria and They live - about the upper end price of a 4K blu ray.
I wonder if this will have a similar resurgence to vinyl?
My GOTY 24 crown is split between two games:
My heart says Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, for its humour, the ambition of its open world, and improving on Remake's battle system.
My head says Balatro, for being so replayable, portable, and offering myriad ways to win via creative (ab)use of its rules.
Definitely! One that slipped through the net due to my local cinema closing down in September.
Impossible to see everything. I couldn't get to see Anora, Zone of Interest, The Wild Robot and so many more that probably would have had a shot of making it.
It was. It's silly, and completely implausible, but I had a blast with it (the first half mainly). I love Shyamalan's determination to make bizarre, high concept movies - like Old, Split, Glass - even if they're quirky or rough around the edges.
It varies by the film for sure (and happens in reverse for UK produced films). I suspect for a more 'out there' film like Poor Things, distributors try pick their moment in each market, to avoid clashes.
Ageed she was great. And it was such a bizarre mish-mash of concepts too, almost like a different film per act. High entertainment factor.
Wasn't it just! I went to see it on a whim and was so pleasantly surprised.
We only got it in the UK in Jan 2024 alas. Figure if I don't include it here, it gets lost in the year transition grey area.
So many films to see, so little time. Still, from what I did catch here's my top ten films of 2024:
1. The Substance
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
3. Love Lies Bleeding
4. Deadpool & Wolverine
5. Poor Things
6. MaXXXine
7. Trap
8 Civil War
9. Wicked
10. Abigail
It's my second time watching Heroes of the East (1978) and it's a masterclass in how to choreograph weapon fights.
So many types of weapon trade blows as part of a "Japan vs China" theme - katana, spear, nunchaku - each one escalating over the last as if giddily asking us "and next, what if...?".
Nailed it
A few Autumn pick-ups from the Criterion sale. I've been meaning to see Akira Kurosawa's Dreams for ages, so really looking forward to seeing this in 4K at last.
Also Rush Hour sneaks in here as a bonus. It's one of the very first Jackie Chan films I ever saw, and I believe it's still his funniest.
Just saw all 2 hours 38 minutes of Napoleon and I'm gutted to say I found it a slog. The better film would have focused on his lifetime love, Josephine - played by Vanessa Kirby - who stole every scene she appeared in.
As it stands, the film has more battle sequences than heart.
I started a Criterion channel subscription last month and it feels like there's no end to the quality films on here. But, the two absolute standouts so far are:
-Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
-High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
Highly recommended, both.
Epic picks! Theres a podcast's worth of chat to be had on every year i think. I know what you mean about the most interesting stuff being left out. Usually the 2nd/3rd place per year is more of a 'personal pick', but for #1 you've sometimes just gotta get Jurassic Park in 😅
Just saw two great films, Lady Bird and The Graduate. It played well as a coming-of-age double bill, if by accident - and both rank among the funniest films I've seen in a long time. Just what a rainy weekend called for.
Hello. What's up 👋
Holding back on finishing FFVII for a few months - or even years - doesn't dull the impact of eventually seeing it through, I found. I remember there being a big gap in my play through. It only added to the sense of occasion finally finishing it.