Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2183)

Content

The Jewel of Knightsbridge: The Origins of the Harrods Empire

Robin Harrod

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In 1836, Charles Henry Harrod found himself in a prison hulk awaiting transportation to Tasmania for...

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Farewell (2019) in Movies

Oct 2, 2019

The Farewell (2019)

2019 | Comedy, Drama

8.9

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Faintly oddball comedy-drama successfully pulls off that trick of looking like being about one thing but actually covering lots of ground. Chinese matriarch is found to have terminal cancer; in accordance with local tradition the family keep her in the dark about this but organise a fake wedding as an excuse to get together one last time. New York-based scion of the family Awkwafina, grand-daughter of the dying woman, is very doubtful of the ethicality of this.

You expect a film about grief, and to some extent this is one, although it's really a chronicle of grief foretold, as the characters anticipate a loss to come. It's also about cultural differences, family life, and the way in which people routinely tell lies to each other every single day simply in order to keep life livable. The film skates along over the top of all this and treats it all with a light and delicate touch. Not an absolute tear-jerker, I thought, but there are some very touching moments (then again, I may be emotionally atrophied, who knows). Not a huge amount actually happens but the film has clearly been made with intelligence and skill.

Kudos

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Blair Witch in Video Games

Mar 13, 2021 (Updated Mar 13, 2021)

Blair Witch

2019 | Action, Horror, Strategy

7.6

(5 Ratings)

Video Game Rating

The Witches Playground

Contains spoilers, click to show

Blair Witch- is a good psychological survival horror game. Its downfall, its only 6 hour or 6 and a half hours long. I wish it was longer. Also i died alot, some it was my purpose, other times come on. Also one to three glitches.

The game is set two years after the events of the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project, which takes place in 1994. The game follows former police officer Ellis Lynch as he joins the search in Black Hills Forest for a missing boy.

The game focuses on survival horror mechanics and stealth and is played from a first person perspective, requiring the player to use items such as a camera, cellphone, flashlight or Ellis' dog, Bullet, to track and follow the trail of missing nine-year old Peter Shannon while fending off shadowy creatures. Along the way, players will find strange wooden dolls, photographs and cassette tapes and will also be tasked with solving puzzles. Like the film, it integrates the found-footage subgenre with the gameplay and story, often through the use of cassette tapes.

It is crucial for the player to keep Bullet close to them at all times, as being separated from him for some time can affect the state of the character. The game's ending is dependent on the relationship between the player and the dog, accounting for the actions the player has done.

The game roughly takes up to six hours to complete, with a possibility of four endings and an additional secret ending.

The ending cutscene varies and depends on players completing certain requirements; the endings can either reveal that Lanning's body was never found or was recovered and buried with top honors, the lumberer Todd Mackinnon was found nearly beyond identification or recovered by his family to be buried, and Peter's fate can be unknown or revealed that he was ultimately murdered at Carver's hands or safely found by the authorities and returned to his family unscathed.

Its good but forgettable.

Kudos

MPMcDonald (8 KP) rated Blue Water, White Water in Books

Jan 12, 2018

I work as a respiratory therapist so I deal with patients on ventilators all the time. This book has made me more aware of what the patient is going through and I hope, it's given me a little more patience with my patients.

One thing I found very strange was that the family had to pay separately for a nurse at the hospital and had to find coverage if a nurse couldn't be there--and this takes place at one of the most well-known hospitals in the country. I have never heard of a family having to do that and I've worked in several different facilities and have since a few years after the events in the book took place. I've even worked in a rehab facility and nursing care was included. (More LPNs than RNs, but still, someone was there to take care of patients.)