Welcome back to Thrak Attack! What's your adventure? This month held so many great adventures in the likes of games, TV shows, movies, and music! Some of the best of the year in fact and some that will be making it onto my final "Top 10 of 2021" lists! So is that enough to entice you? Here are the top 10 adventures of August 2021!
10. The Suicide Squad is a weird movie for many reasons. It's weird because it's a completely separate movie from the 2016 Suicide Squad film. It's weird because 3 of the same actors play the same characters in this film as they did in the 2016 version. It's weird because there are multiple D list marvel characters as the leads of this film. It's weird because James Gunn is the director. And it's weird because in the finale they fight and giant starfish.
9. Axiom Verge 2 is a fine game... but it's just not my style. Which is weird because I absolutely love Metroid Games (Metroid Fusion being my favorite and I cannot wait for Metroid Dread) and I obviously really love the 16-bit style (see my January post with Cyber Shadow). But this game really didn't do much for me. There wasn't enough to grab me to make me want to explore this map and this game.
8. "Solar Power" by Lorde is a light and fun album which is surprisingly different from her previous music. Except it's not. There are a lot of really great songs on this album such as "Solar Power", "The Path", and "Stoned at the Nail Salon"; but there is so much repetition that it feels like she couldn't write a full album but needed to release a full album. The back half of the album is just a retread of the first half! Chord progressions, lyrical ideas, and melodies all sound almost identical to the first half of the album. It's a great sound but just doesn't stack up.
7. No More Heroes III has a great game buried underneath poor graphical fidelity, an insane plot, and too much stylization. So much stylization that I don't know if they're being ironic or if it's just a poorly rendered game. Some of the graphics are atrocious and look no better than the first one on the Wii. The story is fine but the way it plays out really makes no sense. I also enjoy the gameplay immensely but I made the mistake of choosing the "easy mode" which basically means "you can't die" which does not make for good gameplay or a compelling game. I am disappointed in this game after "Travis Strikes Again" and wish it was just a better designed game.
6. What if...? Is a Marvel Disney+ show that ask's random questions like "What if Peggy Carter received the super soldier serum?" or "What if T'Challa became Star Lord?" and the results are extremely mixed. All of the episodes have great premises and ask great questions but they are not always executed well. The Captain Carter episode moved too fast, the T'Challa episode was fantastic, and the OG Avengers episode had some great call backs and proved my theory on all of Marvel characters. I am interested to see where this series goes but it's just an anthology series which does not make it high up on the list for a full adventure.
5. Free Guy is a fun and adventurous film that I wasn't even keen on seeing but I am glad I did. The cast is fantastic and does a lot for the simple plot that is being presented. There are some great one liners in the film and action set pieces and the way Ryan Reynold's character acts around the video game players is absolutely hilarious. This movie was the surprise of the month which is why it gets the spot right in the middle of the list!
4. "King's Disease II" by Nas is a great rap album. I like it because it is not a hip-hop album, it is very clearly a rap album. There are some killer rhymes and verses in this album such as "EPMD II" with Eminem and "Rare" but unfortunately I can't listen to full rap albums because the ideas, rhymes, and music gets way too repetitive for me. I know it's a great album and I know there is a lot that Nas has to say in it but it just doesn't hold up as much as I would like it to.
3. Coda is one of the best films of the year. There is so much great acting in this film and it also challenges the ideas of what acting is. Now because my fiancé requires subtitles to be on at all times, I don't think I appreciated the artistry of this film as much as I should because all of the sign language in the film that is supposed to be implied or interpreted was spelled out for us. But the plot, characters, and message of the movie was absolutely golden and if we realized this going into the film I would have turned subtitles off.
2. Ted Lasso is on it's second season slump on one episode only and that was the strange Christmas episode. But the rest of the season has been killer! They set up so much in the future of each episode that it blows my mind! Like Ted's relationship with the Sports Psychologist, who Rebecca is talking to, Roy Kent's return to the pitch, and Nate's battle with being noticed. All of these character moments are going to point to one hell of a finale in the next month!
1. "Pressure Machine" by The Killers is a follow up to their 2020 album "Imploding the Mirage" which absolutely sucked. That was the album they wrote because they needed to to keep their contract. This is the album they wrote because it matters. This album touched on really important subjects that Americans need to hear! Some of their best and most important songs will come from this album such as the perils of the opioid crisis in songs like "West Hills" and "Quiet Town", domestic abuse with "Desperate Things", and mental health in songs like "Cody". This album means something and I really do hope that you check it out!
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