The Last Cowboy (TV Series)

A Taylor Sheridan reality series about reining!

This documentary-competition which currently spans six seasons showcases the lives of various horse reiners as they prepare and compete in the Taylor Sheridan created "Run For a Million" tournament. What is horse reining? It's being able to ride your horse out into an empty arena and then doing a set pattern with it involving spins both ways, circles of various speeds, and the sliding stop signature move where the faster you go the harder it is to be accurate where to stop but the more points you might get. Much like figure skating, judges then give a score and whoever has the highest wins! If you watched Yellowstone you would have seen some of this as some of the reiners make an appearance there!

It's nice to see the tournament evolve in later seasons as it gets more popular to also include cow-horse (now you do that pattern on your horse while forcing an often non-compliant cow to also do it with you), cutting (there's a herd of cattle in the arena, separate one out and keep it from returning to the herd for as long as you can), and bareback (get on a wild horse and hang on for 8 seconds).

We do like the people the show focuses on too, as its great to see them evolve as people not just competitors. It's not a plot related thing, that's just life. The producers also use a good technique of rotating focus of riders per season, because all these people keep showing up again which means in later seasons even if a rider isn't heavily featured, you know exactly who it is when they get called into the arena. Awesome show and one I hope to see more of! Recommended!

Marshals and Dutton Ranch

First seasons of TV that continue Yellowstone...

Marshals

This police procedural follows Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) as he gets roped into a team of law men and women who each get to fire their guns each episode! Ok, maybe not but there's a lot of tactical action and the inclusion of other Yellowstone regulars on top of new likeable characters does add a lot to the show which helps make up for the "less deep" plot when comparing it to the original series. It's fine with me though, if they keep slinging bullets I'll keep watching. :)

Dutton Ranch

This series follows Beth Dutton's (Kelly Reilly) family who move away from Yellowstone to Rio Paloma to try start a new life but hardship seems to find them around every corner. This drama has better acting and better plot than the above and continues the glimpse into ranch life, but it comes with less gun fighting and some really unlikable characters. If you liked Yellowstone this show is more in the same spirit of it and yes, I'll also be watching season two for this! 

Hounds of War and A House of Dynamite

Two movies that should be exciting but aren't.

Hounds of War

After a group of mercs are setup on a doomed mission, the lone survivor seeks violent revenge on those responsible. You could do many things with that generic plot line, but this movie decides to make the protagonist only involved with a third of the action - delegating somewhat important tasks to nearly nameless side characters. It also feels like they did a lot of work for very little / indirect payoff and that combined with the terrible editing of putting cuts everywhere in the action sequences just really makes it bad. Not recommended. 

A House of Dynamite

When an ICBM bound for the USA is detected, everyone starts to panic as plans fail and hard decisions have to be made. Only they don't really - because while this movie might have good actors and an interesting hook, it lacks content and makes up for it by showing different viewpoints on the same overlapping number of minutes. Conversations you've already heard are spoken again, and really things you know and don't know remain the same throughout. Don't expect any resolutions here. Not recommended. 

Stranger Things and Boardwalk Empire

Two five season shows that are really good!

Stranger Things

Despite having reviewed Stranger Things adjacent stuff, I'm only now reviewing the TV series which has just finished at five seasons. Set in Hawkins USA in the 1980s it is the time of crazy hair, Dungeons and Dragons, and scary extra planar creatures who like abducting people. The story focuses on a group of kids who set out to find their missing friend and end up embroiled with the illegal and supernatural. 

Though the story does wax and wane through some seasons good acting and excellent set designs and monsters make for an exciting tale, and the nostalgia factor for those of us who lived that era and played/are still playing D&D will most likely get into it. For that really specific target group (and for horror fans), its a must watch if you haven't already. For other generations, its still a good show but your enjoyment of it might be more subdued.

Boardwalk Empire

This series is set in Atlantic City during the 1920's where Enoch Thompson (marvelously played by Steve Buscemi) set about making a fortune bootlegging during America's prohibition period all while rubbing shoulders with some notorious and violent gangsters from all over. Given the subject matter, there is a bit of nudity and a decent death count in this show. 

Excellent production, story, acting, cinematography and I was most impressed by the live musical numbers that dot the series throughout. If you like gangsters, you'll like this. If you don't like gangsters, you'll still like this. It's really that good. Highly recommended.

G20 and Tortoise Tumble

A silly movie and a silly little game.

G20

When greedy terrorists somehow take the world leaders hostage at a G20 summit, its up to the USA's military trained black female president (surprised they didn't make her lesbian as well right?) to save the day while wearing a dress  made of plot armor. This is quite the spectacle and the actors did a decent job with the predictable script they were given which makes for an OK enough movie. I'm guessing they were hoping to target younger audiences who don't know movies like Die Hard and Air Force One which also might explain their shyness in having blood and death on the camera. For everyone else, this is an ok "background" movie while you do something else.

Tortoise Tumble

This is a ridiculous little game that involves rolling two toy turtles onto a set of randomized tiles to score points. How your turtle lands gets points with being on its back giving you 0 to a head plant which gives you lots! In addition to that landing on a particular tile might be better than another, but missing entirely is a zero, regardless of how your turtle landed. Very silly, very shallow and very fast to run. Can't really recommend it though.

Zero Day and Paradise

Series that involve presidential action.

Zero Day

After a cyber attack causes chaos and disaster all across the USA, former president Mullen (played by Robert De Niro) is made lead investigator and put in charge of a newly formed goverment group that can freely trample the people's freedoms to find the culprit. It's certainly an interesting chase, made more challenging given Mullen's slowly losing his mind. With only six episodes it's worth a watch, but man do I hate that "Who killed Bambi" song that keeps playing in every episode.

Paradise

This so far one season series follows a lead secret service security agent (played by Sterling K. Brown) whose life gets much more complicated when the president he's supposed to protect is murdered! With powerful people pulling the strings he's not sure who to trust. Good story with interesting hooks per episode that will make you want to watch the next one. Especially as there's only eight episodes currently its a recommended one to binge watch. :)

State of Play: USA aligns with Russia?

It's now day 1103 of the Russia's two day special operation in Ukraine. While the battle rages on there it seems Russia is making some gains outside that theater, seemingly with the help of relatively newly re-elected USA president Donald Trump. In just around two months of his second time in office the USA has held "Peace Talks" with Russia without Ukrainian participation and decided to halt aid going to Ukraine after President Trump publicly clashed with Ukrainian president Zelenskyy at the Oval Office.

On top of this his high tariffs on Canada, Mexico (he also renamed their gulf) and China as well as sanctions relief for Russia some speculate he's building "the bridge" to trade primarily with the Russians in the future. This has sparked more than a few interesting comments of "Trump is a Russian agent" and "Congrats to Russia on winning the cold war". I suppose we will see if and how this changes the battle field but one thing's for sure: Putin must be pretty happy right now.

All Quiet on the Western Front and American Primeval (S1)

High death count: check!

All Quiet on the Western Front

This German World War I flick focuses on a young German lad who joins the war and how he and his buddies quickly go from "yeah, this'll be great" to "WTF am I doing here" in the trenches against the French. Nice cinematography and effects that really focus on the dirty and sometimes insane business that is war. It goes a bit long but we were definitely entertained throughout the film. My only problem is I couldn't really feel for the protagonist and his crew because they all chose to be there.

American Primeval (S1)

In this (so far) one season, six episode Western, a woman and her child need to get from point A to point B without dying of dysentery, being caught by bounty hunters, scalped by the natives, ambushed by brigands, or fighting against a Mormon army. What? Yes, you heard me. This really portrays the Wild West as super wild with high levels of violence and at least one mandatory death per episode. The script is pretty wild too, with characters passing the idiot ball around regularly. If you don't think about the "(s)he should have done [something smart] instead", you can give this one a try.

Yellowstone and Territory

TV Series that depict cattle wrangling as a tough business.

Yellowstone

The original series from which the shows 1883 and 1923 spun off from, again the focus of this drama is on the Dutton family and their controlling patriarch (played by Kevin Costner) who fiercely fights off any and all challengers to his substantial property (in the modern day, just to be clear). Through its five seasons we get to see a tiny bit of character growth from a just a few of the characters but the plot, acting and scenery is good enough to command attention anyway. I quite liked all the cowboy parts which really didn't need to have such a focus, but it was something different and really cool. It also helps that I do like horses. :P Anyway, big thumbs up for this one and an easy one to recommend.

Territory

This currently one season show feels like the Australian copy of Yellowstone. A family who owns the largest cattle station led by an angry patriarch (played by Robert Taylor but the main protagonist is his daughter in law, played by Anna Torv) has to fight off competitors and companies trying to carve parts of their land away. While the stakes feel much lower and there are far fewer horses (most rustling is done with dogs and buggies) its still an alright watch. Especially as there are only six episodes (so far).

The Marksman and Officer Black Belt

Dealing with criminals in their own way.

The Marksman

A veteran soldier and failing farmer (played by Liam Neeson) at the Mexican border comes across a mother and son illegally crossing the fence as they are pursued by a Mexican cartel who want them back. Our protagonist is torn between deporting them or helping them, and annoyingly this continues throughout the majority of the movie. Being on the fence so much is not a great quality, and with excess scenes and low on screen body count it doesn't really make for a great movie. Skip.

Officer Black Belt

A natural athlete and martial artist (played by Kim Woo-bin) is recruited into the South Korean probation officer task force where they must monitor and handle aggressive probation violators with non-lethal close quarter combat. It is a decent action comedy, with decidedly more action than comedy (especially with the bad guys, as they are freaking dark), and a pretty good story which only gets sloppy at the end. Better that I thought it would be. Recommended!

Fast Foursome

Four Epic games that didn't manage to hold my attention for very long.

Wild Card Football

This is all about American Football (not soccer) and presents well with some nice music and cool cartoony but stylized characters (because its football with super powers!), and obviously was designed with head to head play in mind. The downsides for me are that there are a LOT of controls. It doesn't help that I don't really know football either.

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle

This party game (for up to four) is basically guitar hero with side tasks to annoy you while you do it. Some cool songs in here though but man is the villain really annoying in that he talks way too much. Probably a better experience if not solo. :P

TOEM

A very relaxed black and white game about casually wandering around and taking photos of things to earn enough stamps to buy a train ticket on to the next zone to do it all again. There is some humor in the odd ball characters that give you your tasks but some of the targets are quite annoying to find.

Rugrats

Easily the worst of this set that seems to be relying on the nostalgia factor from the TV show. Yes you get to play as the titular rugrats to collect... things through very simple levels. The silly theme and lack of tutorial doesn't do it any favors.

August 2024: Countries clash... in the Olympics!

We're more than half way through the games now but prior to the start Israeli athletes had been threatened a repeat of Munich. Israel's response was to take out some of the leaders of their known enemies and just get on with it. Meanwhile in the USA someone had tried to off Trump who is running for President again, but it was current President Biden who pulled out from running for his second term, finally understanding that he might be too old.

That shooter wasn't Olympics worthy unlike this pair (Kim Yeji and Yusuf Dikec).

Not all is well in the Olympics though with complaints ranging from uncomfortable beds to the Seine river (used for some swimming events) being so dirty its causing athletes to fall sick. Russian troops in Ukraine know all about bad water as they have a shortage of it, resorting to drinking whatever they can find. To be fair they might be dying too quickly to care about it anyway, but are still gaining ground regardless. On the water itself it's still humorous that the Russian navy is getting sunk by a country without one.

Some of this is made possible by drones. These things can do everything it seems, from spying on Olympic soccer training to killing helicopters. The UK has recognized the threat at has made an anti-drone laser system (which probably doesn't work well in fog, snow or rain but neither would flying drones). The crafty Ukranians solution is just to shotgun them from an old Yak-52. On a random tangent, I checked if someone made a laser to kill mosquitos and the answer is yes, but it currently isn't practical. Damn.

Meanwhile more bad news for Ukraine as Hungary is upset Ukraine is blocking their oil (despite them blocking aid to Ukraine for over two years) and NATO has also deemed Ukraine too corrupt to join them. Perhaps Russia's joint venture with China to establish a moon base, possibly in Mare Tranquillitatis Pit if they can claim it first, might take some heat off? With the ISS being retired in a few years that would be a pretty big achievement.

Not sure how China plans to bank roll this given their current financial troubles, but maybe it involves assimilating the Tibetans? They've still got around 10 years to work it out anyway. Not sure the way Thailand is handling their finance would be the answer. They're simply handing out digital money to citizens!

Dragonheir: Sailing Away

[Part of the Cursed story line.] 

Getting to season two for this game is a unique process where people who have "finished" all the content of season one at the allotted time are whisked away into a new server and are rewarded currencies based on how well the did in their previous season (and there are apparently four seasons of this now). 

While you keep all your RNGesus picked companions, all of them and your main character are back to level one with no gear so that you can grind up once more not only by doing the new stuff which involves saving an island of elves from some frisky sahaugin merlings but also by returning to the mainland to grind previously cleared combat zones which now feature different (and much harder) challenges. The elemental pairs also rotate to keep you on your toes which means my main party changed to be Fire Main / Horrus / Journ / Ripekas / and Estella for some heals.

The actual season one end boss is an illithid dragon?

The restarting thing is a bit annoying but could have been ok if the leveling back up was done better or differently (which I believe is something they mentioned in their road map). Not that it matters though as the game just issued a "Termination of Service for the US Region" for sometime in September, furthering angering the players who have paid real money on the game (already angry since the pay to win stuff they bought doesn't carry over to this season). This supposedly ties into USA's ban of Tiktok, as the company that owns Tiktok just bought Dragonheir and have a dispute with some US laws. I guess its best to bury this one now

Eurovision 2024: The Code (of War)

It was an interesting Eurovision this year with Sweden acting as the host. Ukraine had a better song this time around and Germany set the stage on fire, or was it one of the more eye-candy type acts? There was also a twisted fairy tale, a demon summoning, and a guy with no pants which I classify under the same theme of "horror" (though purely based on some vocals/songs more entrants could fit into this category). There was also a disqualification, and it ultimately came down to Croatia's Baby Lasagna and Switzerland's Nemo. For a change I managed to pick the winner correctly from the semi-final stage! Congratulations Nemo, not only for winning but for one of the best performances in Eurovision ever. Highly recommended you watch it. :)

Here's Raiven, fully clothed.

Since this seems to be a post about nations competing against each other let's check in on Russia's special 2 day operation to take Ukraine which is now on day... 817? It's been a long time since I posted anything about this (ironically, it was my previous Eurovision post) and in that time Ukraine was actually losing ground due to dwindling reserves of people and supply (due to other countries *cough USA cough* delaying support) and Russia's seemingly endless supply of people to take hits and further tire and disarm their opponent.

That battle continues as does the one of Israel (who actually had a Eurovision contestant this year) vs Hamas, a militant and designated "terrorist" arm of Palestine supported by Iran, who recently lost their president in a helicopter crash. President Bill Clinton tried sorting that out in 2000 but unfortunately was unsuccessful.

Bird Box and Bird Box Barcelona

The best way to save on monster CGI.

Bird Box

When the world is invaded by hostile creatures, a small band of survivors makes a trek to try find safety. Starring Sandra Bullock, the concept is quite ridiculous because as soon as you look at one of these things (which are never shown) you become intensely suicidal. Clever way to save on budget, but also ridiculous as people somehow manage to navigate without tripping over more than they should. Also, since you can't see them, the monsters aren't super scary because they have no physical abilities whatsoever (other than whispering aggressively if you aren't looking)? An interesting film nonetheless but... feels dopey.

Bird Box Barcelona

This film is almost the same as the last one, except in Spanish but with more of a focus on the crazies who are affected differently when they see the still invisible creatures. Just as ridiculous as the first film but the twist is decent enough to earn it a watch if you liked the concept.

The Division 2: Router Killer

Better known as Tom Clancy's The Division 2, this game had been in our Friday game nights for a few cycles having "replaced" Ghost Recon Wildlands as it is more RPG than the latter. In it you play agents of said Division trying to bring order back to a post-apocalyptic America - Washington DC specifically for starters with expansions to other cities.

There's lots of gear to collect, upgrade or sell and skills to learn that mostly relates to tech: drones, turrets, launchers, shields and the like. As it is an RPG you also get hilarious situations where a headshot from your level 7 sniper rifle isn't enough to kill a level 22 bad guy who randomly generated into existence because you wandered into a "higher level" area. For the most part it's ok though, until we discovered it is frying Jim's router.

That means not only is he losing connection from the game but also from the internet in general, for the entire household spanning a random duration which usually leans more towards hours of disconnect instead of minutes! It's pretty impressive that a game can do that, and based on google it's a pretty common problem experienced by people who play this! As such, we've uninstalled it now (no point in playing it if we can't play it together). Obviously with that turn of events I don't recommend this game.

While I'm on the topic of stuff that doesn't work, Surviving the Aftermath which was free from Epic a little bit back somehow has worse loading times than the Total War series. Given I could probably finish a light novel before the game even starts, I'm considering this one worthless too.

Fear the Walking Dead and Alien: Covenant

Idiots and monsters.

Fear the Walking Dead

This eight season show was one of the first major spin-offs for the Walking Dead, touting to start the story at the very beginning of the zombie apocalypse while following a family trying to escape the insanity and forming a band of survivors that were usually at odds with each other. Yes, people have stupid moments but some of the naivety can be hand waved due to these folks having little experience in the apocalypse.

And then at season four they decided to drop all of that and just do time skips to catch up with the main series to explain how characters from there are ending up here. The main character focus shifts and it basically becomes the regular Walking Dead, just in a different part of the USA. Idiotic moments are much more difficult to ignore now since characters should have known better and plot armor becomes more and more apparent as less and less important characters perish despite plane crashes, nuclear strikes and other absurd things.  

While the quality certainly takes a hit it's still just around the level of the "bad" seasons of the main show so I guess if you are a fan then this one is worth looking into (odds are you've watched it already) but otherwise you aren't really missing much.

Alien: Covenant

This sci-fi sequel to Prometheus stars Michael Fassbender as a synthetic aboard a colonization vessel of two thousand plus people in cryosleep who are frequently put in danger by the twelve or so crew whose job is to simply get from point A to point B. Through a multitude of bad decisions things don't go well for them, keeping in line with the Alien franchise. At least in this one after people make bad calls they usually die, unlike in Fear (above) where the main cast keeps getting to live to make more bad decisions.

Outside of that the effects are pretty nice though, as are the stage settings and the creatures themselves. You don't really need to have watched Prometheus either to get the gist of what's going on. I guess I'll rate it a... meh?

The Days and Sly Dynasty Warriors

Disaster in Japan, Romance in China, and Rocky in the USA

The Days

This one season series is a dramatization of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident which could have laid waste to a third of Japan's land mass. When compared to the Chernobyl series this certainly feels like it had less budget and isn't as tight - especially with a few too many slow motion shots and an opening twenty(?) minutes that everyone can safely skip through (just watch the Earthquake then speed up till you get to the Tsunami). Outside of those two issues, this is actually quite decent and you really get a sense of dread with the hardships these people faced or are still facing.

The plot includes politicians and inept big wigs trying to save face while the poor workers at the site keep trying so hard to win each step forward only to get pushed down a flight of stairs as a reward. Only recommended if that is your sort of thing, want to know more about the Fukushima incident, or enjoyed the Chernobyl series (just lower expectations a bit).

Dynasty Warriors (2021)

Right in the opening text it says this movie is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story AND video games which gives you fair warning about how its going to go - and the opening army battle scene sets the tone with "the three heroes" Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu saving the incredibly fat womanizer Dong Zhuo from the Yellow Turban rebellion and their Yellow Turban sorcerer / necromancer leader via wire-fu and ridiculous effects to Chinese Synth metal which are right at home in the Dynasty Warriors game series. This happens for every and any fight scene.

While that's enough for an interactive game a movie needs more plot and isn't it lucky the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is pretty popular? To that end, it is kinda confusing why they decided to go off and butcher it a bit by introducing the god-forged weapons which was either a way to excuse their insane powers (which they had prior to receiving the weapons) or to switch POV to Cao Cao who is equally important to the over all story. The biggest problem though? This whole movie only covers the setup for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. All the interesting stuff is forming and starting to get interesting and then they end (at the battle of Hulao Pass for those wondering) which feels like this needs a sequel or a remake. Probably both.

Sly

There are a growing number documentaries on celebrities it seems and this is Sylvester Stallone's one. Unlike Beckham's series, this is a movie which primarily focuses on Stallone's script writing, acting, and clashes with his dad who really sounds like a piece of work. It's interesting to hear how he injected parts of his own life throughout the Rocky series and his rise to fame but ultimately its just ok. Not saying Beckham's a more interesting guy, but his media certainly makes for better viewing. Recommended only for Sylvester Stallone fans.

Xenonauts: Eagle

[Part of the Xenonauts story]

Turns out lizardmen leaders are almost as dumb as their troops so the scientists ask for a higher ranked alien while a new base "Eagle" is established in North America - only to discover the aliens already have a base here! The Xenonauts, while freaked out at the teleporter technology withing, clear out the small facility with patience. The same technique also works on the alien base discovered in Indochina where they also nab an alien martian type leader.

The aliens angrily respond with another terror attack in Tiksi where the lizardmen finally destroy the hunter car and a massive aerial terror bombing on Lagos which costs the Xenonauts many aircraft and pilots to stop. Despite their efforts Indochina decides to drop from the funding council and kowtow to the aliens, which forces the Commander to fire half his science division. Lucky they finished building a scimitar tank which is the next step up from the hunter car, and is even MORE effective as almost soloing maps and helping save Mogadishu against a terror attack.

In the skies above, alien cruisers now start appearing but the Xenonaut air division easily takes these two story ships down while ground troops make use of new fangled stun batons to cheese the teleporters within to stun an alien leader into submission! How? By getting fast soldiers to teleport in and out AND stay on the pad! This prevents aliens from using the teleporter but also keeps them in striking range for the surprisingly strong melee of the shock prods.  This alien at least provides some information on their supreme leaders, the Praetors, and of course the science division wants to get their hands on a live one of these next.

Glass, it's one weakness...

Decluttering Day 22: Snoopy toy with a "Joe Cool" shirt.

Resident Evil: Village

Welcome to Barovia?

Having some bad experiences in the USA (what with all those horrors set lose), Ethan Winters moves his family to Europe where they find a short period of peace before being abducted and taken to a run down village beneath the shadow of a looming castle in a valley full of monsters! No, there's no Strahd here but it's pretty close!

Expect to do a lot of running.

It's a strange setting for the Resident Evil series, but its done very well. There are shocks, scares and awesome terror especially at the start of the game. Later on when you can fight back effectively, the horror level drops a fair bit but its still quite enjoyable. Honestly, the only thing I didn't like is that the protagonist monologues a little too much at the worst times but otherwise, I highly recommend it!