I thoroughly enjoyed playing this. In terms of gameplay it’s a fairly simple puzzle/adventure game, but the location design (1980s London!) and eerie horror works fabulously well in VR. The story isn’t hugely original but the environments are fascinating. For me easily one of the best VR games made so far. ★★★★☆

This is a very different game from the usual Nintendo 3D platformers, and that idiosyncracy doesn’t always work–there are too many levels that just aren’t particularly fun. It is also remarkably ugly in its glowing greens and purples–but I suppose that does also give it a unique visual style. Yet, despite these caveats, the smash-everything voxel technology perfectly fits with Donkey Kong’s endearing character, and there is something very satisfying about eating all those rock bananas. ★★★★☆

The Dispossessed (by Ursula Le Guin, 1974)

Like the recently reviewed Where The Axe Is Buried, this is a science-fictional exploration of politics. Here the main idea is anarchism, and Le Guin does an excellent job of showing how an anarchist society might operate. Unlike Axe, however, the characterisation and journey of Shevek provide plenty of novelistic interest to add to the theorising. Deservedly a classic of the genre. ★★★★★

(dir. James Cameron) As a fan of the previous two movies I found Avatar: Fire and Ash to be a disappointment. It is surprising how little there is original here: same locations, same characters, same characters fighting each other, same big battles, and same last-minute intervention by nature to defeat the evil humans. It’s still all very beautiful, and the action scenes are impressively intense, but it feels like an unnecessary rehash of the second film. The 3D worked well, but I am one of those who found the constant switching between 24 and 48 frames-per-second extremely off-putting–I wish Cameron had picked one frame-rate and stuck with it. Avatar 4 is scheduled for release in 2029 but I’m not sure anyone needs it. ★★★☆☆

(by Ray Nayler, published 2025)

Very much a political science-fiction novel. AIs become PMs and run countries; high-tech makes the totalitarian surveillance state near-inescapable; a new invention makes changing people’s very minds possible. It is, though, for me one of those novels that might have been better as a non-fiction polemic (and the acknowledgements helpfully point to the various non-fiction books that inspired it). ★★★☆☆

I suppose a real TV adaptation of The Last of Us would have the viewer experience, over and over, all the horrific ways Ellie can die in each encounter–with that grim musical cue each time. This game is a technical marvel, etc. etc., but also genuinely unpleasant to play. I soldier on because it’s supposed to be brilliant, but right now it’s three stars–just like Alan Wake 2 this is not as deep as it thinks it is (and doesn’t even have a rock musical hidden inside).

This article by Eric Kain does a very good job of exposing the fundamental problems of characterisation and motivation in the two lead characters. While he writes he “still had something resembling fun while playing” I am not sure I had any fun at all. I would have stopped if it hadn’t been for all the plaudits and 10/10 reviews.

★★★☆☆ (mainly for the technical artistry).

I’ve now played 67 hours of Street Fighter 6. Since Steam and the other services started counting, I’ve only spent more time on Minecraft, Warframe, Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and Red Dead Redemption 2. It deserves to be in their company–it’s a fascinating game, with a skill ceiling that seems to go forever and, as I praised back in August, a suite of tools that allow you to improve your play. I have reached Silver 4 rank, which is nothing for a fighting game aficionado, but for this 45 year-old seems just fine. Time is limited, and I have other things I want to play (I finally have started the original Hollow Knight and have also returned to the dour Last of Us 2) but I now understand why for some a good fighting game will be all they want to play. ★★★★★

(dir. Richard Donner) I was worried this wouldn’t live up to my memories of watching this when younger, but no–this remains a superb action film. Quality practical effects and a high standard of cinematography (see this interview with DP Stephen Goldblatt) elevates the standard plot. Well worth the rewatch. ★★★★☆

(dir. Danny Boyle) This is the coming-of-age story of a 12 year-old boy, Spike, who is growing up on island off the coast of a quarantined British Isles. When his father takes him to the mainland for the first time he encounters an “alpha”–a stronger and more intelligent type of “infected”–and also sees a mysterious fire in the distance….

Excellent acting and an unpredictable script makes this the best zombie film I have seen in recent times. It also balances the horror with a dark sense of humour that keeps it more enjoyable than the grim seriousness of The Last of Us. I’m looking forward to the sequel. ★★★★☆

This first-person adventure game was developed by Swedish developers MachineGames, who were previously responsible for Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. It is, however, less a shooter and more a simple stealth and puzzle game that allows you to punch your way clumsily out of messing up.

Credit must be given for all the work that went towards making this seem like the Indiana Jones film we never had: Troy Baker’s impersonation of Harrison Ford and the quip-filled script strike exactly the right tone. The story also captures the B-movie blend of adventuring and mystery of the original trilogy, complete with a despicable Nazi villain and a final act veer towards the supernatural. Special praise also for composer Gordy Haab, whose original music is good it could almost be John Williams himself (read an interview with Mr Haab on his scoring here).

The actual gameplay is very straightforward–sneak up behind baddy, whack him on the head with whatever implement is at hand, and if you are noticed by other enemies then sprint off and hope they will lose track of you. Puzzles are heavily signposted. Fist fighting is fine but not particularly engaging. The game has a strange combination of elements that never fully cohered for me, but I did enjoy my time adventuring.

★★★☆☆ (But add an extra star if you are a big Indiana Jones fan.)

(dir. Wes Anderson) I remember loving Rushmore when it was released, but otherwise have often found Wes Anderson’s films more twee than inspiring. I was surprised, then, when The Phoenician Scheme proved to be genuinely funny. All the usual hallmarks of his style are still there, and some of the actors he loves to cast turn up in minor roles, but the plot moves briskly and the jokes keep on coming. ★★★★☆

Many were baffled why Disney had greenlit a prequel series to the prequel film Rogue One, but Andor is the best Star Wars has been since Empire Strikes Back. Dispensing with the space wizard and magic sword fantasy, this shows how the Empire’s galactic fascism was maintained and how its oppressive rule seeded its own destruction. The script is intelligent, the characters diverse and well-acted, and its short two seasons are plotted impeccably. The best science fiction series in a long, long time. ★★★★★

(dir. Mike Nichols) This is an almost flawless comedy. Robin Williams restrains his excess and provides pathos, Nathan Lane is outrageous but finally sympathetic, Hank Azaria scene-steals as Agador the houseboy, and even Gene Hackman’s comedy timing is surprisingly strong. Its setting in South Beach also provides a now nostalgic 1990s dayglo seminude rollerblading backdrop to the story. ★★★★★

(dir. Henry Selick) The first film by Laika Studios, based on a Neil Gaiman novella. It’s a beautifully imagined world and the technical artistry of the stop-motion is, as always with Laika, staggering. ★★★★☆

Sleeper Beach, by Nick Harkaway (2025)

The follow-up to Titanium Noir (2023) continues the story of Cal Sounder, a detective investigating crimes involving “Titans”, genetically-altered long-living humans. Much as the last book, it is a somewhat old-fashioned noir novel with the spice of sci-fi elements and is well-written fun. ★★★★☆

(dir. Anselm Chan 陳茂賢) There are multiple protagonists in this film: Dominic Ngai (Dayo Wong), a wedding planner forced to switch to the funeral business during the Covid pandemic; “Hello” Man (Michael Hui), a Taoist priest upholding old funeral traditions; and Man’s two adult children, Yuet (Michelle Wai) and Ben (Chu Pak Hong). An excellent script and strong performances enliven all of these characters and despite a 140-minute length (in the director’s cut) it doesn’t feel in the least self-indulgent. It did well in the Hong Kong Film Awards, but lost Best Film to Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. I would have given this the top prize. ★★★★★

(dir. Wim Wenders) Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), a reticent toilet cleaner in Japan, enjoys a simple daily routine that rarely changes. The film shows us this routine, and then shows a number of events that upset Hirayama’s carefully-arranged “perfect days”.

The meditative pace reminds me of The Taste of Things, but while that film showed showed how the slow preparation and enjoyment of food was intertwined with personal relationships, this is a much more solitary film. Hirayama’s combination of work, 60s & 70s American music, photography, restaurants, and reading is his way of finding contentment, but the life of this “urban hermit” in ultra-modern Tokyo seems far less appealing to me than being in love with your cook in the Loire Valley.

Putting aside the comparison, however, some searching about the film took me to an interesting article by Luca Galofaro on ArchDaily, pointing out Perfect Days’ connections to Moriyama-San, a 2017 documentary about a Japanese “enlightened amateur” living in Tokyo, and to an article about the Buddhist possibilities of being an Urban Hermit by Mu Soeng. Well worth a read if you enjoyed the film’s tranquillity. ★★★★☆

(dir. Martin Brest) What could have been a hokey and familiar drama about a scholarship kid at an elite high school taking on a Thanksgiving job looking after a blind man becomes far more affecting because of a good script from Bo Goldman and a mesmerising performance from Al Pacino. ★★★★☆

Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents (by Octavia Butler, 1993 & 1998)

Butler’s vision of a future America sadly seems closer today than it may have in the 1990s. The two books are examinations of how faiths and beliefs might change in a decaying nation, and the beginning of Trump’s second term has made it clear that fundamental societal values can indeed shift with surprising rapidity. Butler’s unflinching approach to the violence and death in her story also makes many other dystopian tales seem far too kind to their protagonists in comparison. These are excellent novels. ★★★★★

Vaxxers: A Pioneering Moment in Scientific History (by Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green, 2021)

Written by two of the lead scientists working on the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, this is full of interesting detail about how the vaccine was developed and tested at record speed. ★★★★☆