We discuss a movie on each of our lists for top ten movies of 2015. Then, at the 1:27 mark, we belly up to the juice bar to discuss our favorite beverages in movies, not to be confused with a previous 3×3 about alcoholic beverages.
Next week: Sisters
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Tom Chick and Jason McMaster get Victorian on your ass. Join us for a discussion of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, with a chaser of Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void.
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“What about this one?”
My sister is holding up a little square box, about the size of a cocktail napkin, the thickness of a paperback dictionary. The motif is black and blue, with cutely crude hand-drawn artwork. The silhouette of a cat-eared demon peers over a title in block letters: ONIRIM. Is that a real word? I think it’s Hebrew.
After the jump, well, what about that one? Continue reading →
As the curtain lowers on a fine fine year of moviemaking, we shuffle out into the lobby and hang out to chat for a couple hours. Join us. We promise not to spoil anything!
Tom Chick
10. ’71
9. Sicario
8. Cop Car
7. It Follows
6. Spotlight
5. The Revenant
4. Z for Zachariah
3. Bone Tomahawk
2. Victoria
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
Christien Murawski
10. Bone Tomahawk
9. The Tribe
8. It Follows
7. Two Step
6. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Sicario
4. Spotlight
3. Ex Machina
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
1. The Revenant
Kelly Wand
10. some Spongebob Squarepants movie
9. Hateful Eight
8. ’71
7. Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant
6. The Overnight
5. The Revenant
4. It Follows
3. Bone Tomahawk
2. Creed
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
Next week: The Revenant
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It’s a harsh two-to-one split on Quentin Tarantino’s latest. At the one hour mark, we bring to light our favorite candle scenes in movies for this week’s 3×3.
Next week: the best of 2015
The week after that: The Revenant
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I don’t actually know what games you played in 2015, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you didn’t play more than two or three of these 12 games. Five, tops. I’ve only played 11 of them, and some of those for only an hour or so. So far, I’ve actually reviewed just one of them. And I’m the guy writing the list!
Now I’m sure you have your reasons: The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid 5, Fallout 4. But as those reasons wind down, as your backlog threatens to shrink, as you wait for the release of highly anticipated games like XCOM 2, No Man’s Sky, and Rise of the Tomb Raider, consider pulling some of these gems out from under the avalanche of 2015 releases.
After the jump, S&R Continue reading →
He Never Died isn’t just a smartly written and adroitly directed story about an immortal doomed to wander the Earth. A grimly R-rated story. That’s also sort of a wry comedy. An angels with bloody faces for the post-comic book 21 century. More importantly, He Never Died is utterly inspired casting. The sad and quietly seething Henry Rollins is equal parts Black Flag frontman just chillin’, bewildered Starman, unconcerned burnout, ill-at-ease introverted nerd, reluctant absentee dad reconnecting with his 19-year-old daughter, divine terminator, and exhausted demigod. It’s a pretty tall order. While the gracefully graying Rollins might not be the most comfortable actor, there is not a single moment in He Didn’t Die that isn’t fascinating because of him. He even gets a chance to let loose with those same outraged and outrageous pipes that bellowed “myyyy waaaaarrrr!” back in the day.
Superman movies taught us that invulnerability is inherently dull. It turns out Superman movies were wrong. Henry Rollins and He Never Died writer/director Jason Crawczyk present invulnerability as vulnerable, interesting, and — bingo! — bleakly funny. And it’s always nice to see Steven Ogg let loose from behind the character of Trevor in Grand Theft Auto V. Ogg’s Nicholson-esque mugging is the yin to Rollin’s stony faced yang.
He Never Died is available for VOD. Support Qt3 and watch it on Amazon.com.
Welcome to the sometime annual awards ceremony for the 2015 Quarterlies! Our panel of judge (not pictured, left) has carefully considered all the nominations and Steve Harvey is about to reveal the lucky winners (not pictured, right), each of whom will receive (not really) a trophy (not pictured). Please take your seats.
After the jump, we’ll skip past the opening musical number. Continue reading →
Two out of three Qt3 movie podcasters are absolutely over the moon about the new Star Wars movie. At the 1:25 mark, we’re going in! It’s a discussion of the worst action heroes.
Next week: Hateful Eight
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For the first time since I’ve been doing these lists, which is probably ten years or more, over half of my choices are from independent developers. It’s an encouraging development. When you consider the movies chosen by critics on any given year, you won’t necessarily see the most popular, and you probably won’t see the most profitable, or the movies with the biggest budgets. Instead, you’ll see lists that include the best of independent cinema, arthouse releases, or at least the indie branding from the major studios. When the best of the year skew towards people who aren’t beholden to stockholders, it’s a sign that a medium is maturing creatively. Leave financial success, hollow fun, and the pursuit of pure entertainment to the corporations. Leave thoughtful design, innovation, storytelling, and creative impact to the hungry men and women with something to say.
Not that I didn’t enjoy my share of AAA releases this year! There are four in this list. Another five were in the running but didn’t make the final cut (Anno 2205, Mad Max, Total War: Attila, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Star Wars: Battlefront). Another half dozen or so I didn’t play or didn’t play enough. But on the whole, it was a year in which independent developers took the wheel and confidently steered us in exciting new directions.
After the jump, the top ten games of 2015. Continue reading →
Overrated is a loaded term. It looks good in a headline. It’s often used for no purpose other than to goad a reaction. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. When I call a game overrated, I don’t mean it’s bad, that the reviews were wrong, that the people who liked it were dopes, or even that I didn’t like it. It just means I’m surprised more people weren’t more critical, that the conversation wasn’t more often about ways the game could have been better.
After the jump, the ten most overrated games of 2015. Continue reading →
So if the most disappointing category is a list of games that should have been better, the most surprising category is the opposite. These are games that were better than they should have been. Just as disappointing is about falling short of expectations, these surprising games exceeded expectations and, in some cases, were among the best games of the year.
After the jump, the ten most surprising games of 2015. Continue reading →
Calling a game disappointing arguably has more to do with me than the game itself. Disappointment isn’t an inherent quality. It can’t exist without some sort of expectation in the first place. In many cases, these games are sequels, or the creations of developers with proven track records, or entries in established genres, or games with promising beginnings. But for various reasons, the central fact about these games is that I had personally hoped they would be better.
After the jump, the ten most disappointing games of 2015. Continue reading →
Matt Peckham joins us from Time.com for a discussion of Xenoblade Chronicles X, the JRPG that isn’t quite like any other JRPG and open-world game that isn’t quite like any other open-world game.
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This week, we discuss the latest historical drama from the director of The Da Vinci Code. At the sound of the Brittney at the 1:17 mark, we leave a message about our favorite voicemail messages.
Next week: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
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