The second installment of my Friday Night Double Feature series was Korean cinema, with one film I’d wanted to see for ages but had never had the chance and one film I love dearly and wanted to share with whoever happened to be around. The Host, surprise monster film hit from last year, was the former film, and the well-built psychological horror film A Tale of Two Sisters is a film that two years ago I watched twice in 24 hours–the second time just to follow along with an IMDB analysis of the plot.

I apologize for the delayed writeup, but please, read on and find pearls of wisdom.

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I’ve recently been exploring Front Mission, the original one, the turn-based mecha sim released for the Super NES in Japan, but never in America. I’ve had a copy for some time now, acquired through…surreptitious means. As is my habit, I’ll return to a classic Super Nintendo title years after I last played it mostly because I’ve forgotten how it plays. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Earthbound are examples that I re-explored this past summer, and I suppose it was only a matter of time before I returned to Front Mission. After all, I love mecha titles, and I’m fond of turn-based strategy titles as well.

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FNDF, you say? Bound, have you gone mad? Are you making up acronyms simply to generate confusion and bring this fine blog into ruin? The answer may surprise you.

Maybe.

Or possibly I’ve just started a little tradition for myself: a tradition of a Friday-night double-feature! That’s right, years old films or at least nothing recent, rented on DVD (or, heaven forbid, VHS) and viewed with a company of comrades. Each week will purportedly have a theme, and this past one was “robots run amok.”

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As a reviewer, I am torn. Do I describe Cloverfield as this year’s Snakes on a Plane, or do I announce it as the Blair Witch Godzilla as it storms to number one on its opening weekend? Certainly, it has elements of both–low viewer expectations as to quality and a huge internet hype just like Snakes, but the monster-movie and first-person documentary qualities of those other two films. Fortunately, the only thing I have to decide is whether or not to tell you to see Cloverfield, and I’m more than capable of doing that. It’s a film that definitely makes an impression, and it isn’t for everyone–to find out if it’s for you and your hard-earned money, keep reading below, spoiler-free!

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I have a feeling a number of readers of this blog from North America will recall the years of yore when the anime invasion hit our shores. Those were the days when Cartoon Network began broadcasting its Toonami block on weekday afternoons, hosted by Moltar of Space Ghost fame, consisting of, among other classic shows, Thundercats, Voltron, and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. Over the next three years young American minds got their first taste of anime, and boy did we eat it up. Though some of it never really struck my fancy (Ronin Warriors? Seriously?) I ate up the early mecha anime on Toonami. Perhaps the biggest impression was made by Gundam Wing. And recently, as I go back through (rather extensive) list of anime that one internet hivemind deemed worth watching, Gundam Wing’s name came up in my hard drive. It was time for a walk down memory lane, to see how those heroes, villains, and giant robots stood up to the test of time and nostalgia.

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Now that whatever winter solstice-related holiday you celebrate has come and gone, you probably have some spending money, some free time, or a bit of both. But what to spend it on? Certainly, you could pass endless hours seeking out only the choicest torrents or perhaps indulging in the finest sporting activities television has to offer (new American Gladiators broadcasts January 6!), but there’s bound to be something else to eat up your time.

And, in this case, your brains. The perfect thing to liven up your holiday season is some zombie-related merchandise! Everyone knows about the Resident Evil series and the recent million-seller Dead Rising, and what zombie aficionado, even a casual one, is unfamiliar with George Romero’s formidable body of work or the recent British zombie(-esque) films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later? But if you’re looking for brain-munching entertainment that isn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or another Capcom title, we’ve got some suggestions for you to drop some holiday dough on.

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The very definition of a sleeper hit, first-person puzzler Portal from Valve’s The Orange Box unexpectedly gained massive critical acclaim and a sizable fan following after the release of the new compilation this year. Though it may just as easily have slipped under the radar, Portal has instead become the pick of the litter, attracting nearly universal praise, including glowing words from notoriously harsh Escapist Magazine reviewer Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, and inspiring discussion not only on its gameplay but even on how it could be a feminist critique of FPSes. With the year in gaming concluding, Portal is finishing strong and getting named on a lot of best-of lists for its strong style, darkly humorous bent, and ingeniously simple mechanics. Pretty outstanding for a puzzle game bundled with hallmark franchises such as Half-Life and Team Fortress and based around the idea that people like cake.

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