Is it Top Gun: Maverick But With Race Cars Now? Yes, even to the closer-to-age-appropriate love interest (shout out Kerry Condon!).

But!

As a big screen, IMAX, amusement park-esq immersive experience, it’s absolutely incredible. Hands down worth seeing in the theater, even though you can call the whole plot from the jump.

DA MOVIESH

Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal are…Guys Bein’ Dudes.

Yesterday, after a roughly 24 hour heads up, Sony live-streamed the latest of their State of Play presentations¹, in what would’ve been the standard E3 presentation week.

In case you missed it, you can stream the whole thing here.

I’ve watched a lot of these presentations over the years — I’m very susceptible to hype — and I have to say, this may have been one of the most confident, complete and downright thrilling presentations by any of the big three video game companies in quite some time.

From the jump, with the reveal of the latest installment of the Lumines puzzle franchise, a relaunch in the vein of the enchanting Tetris Effect games, I was surprised and delighted by the breadth of games shared over the hour. Different genres, unique art styles, genuine risks in storytelling and audience focus — basically, intentionally or not, it seemed to be a direct shot at recent op-ed’s lamenting the end of the gaming industry, with its focus on only massive, cash grabbing hits and the heartbreaking increase of layoffs.

Are those still a problem? Yes, absolutely. But there was something in the air of yesterday’s presentation that told me that the world of creative games is not going out without a fight.

Among my personal highlights, which link out to their individual trailers:

• The aforementioned reveal of Lumines Arise, a trailer which — as a fan of Tetris Effect — gave me goosebumps.
• The bug nutty first look at Romeo is a Dead Man, a new action title from gonzo game director Suda51.
• The return of Giant Squid, creators of Journey, Abzu and The Pathless with Sword of the Sea, which looks gorgeous.²
• The reveal of 007 First Light, the biggest James Bond game in decades, as produced by Hitman devs IOI.
• And last, but not least…the reveal of the PlayStation Studios/Arc Systems collaboration, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, a 4 vs. 4 tag fighting game which looks absolutely incredible. It’s not Marvel vs. Capcom 4, sure, but it looks like it could be the next best thing.

In a year where my interest in gaming has been minimal, with me having only played the PS5 port of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle³, and anxiously awaiting my Switch 2 pre-order along with Mario Kart World, this was a shot in the arm for me. These are games made the way I like my games. And I hope they can all live up to their promise. I’ll be crossing my fingers as they release.

Tom Cruise will not rest until his death is captured in glorious IMAX.

Do you like I Think You Should Leave and actively feeling anxiety for a fictional character’s actions?

Have I got the movie for you…

Woof. Feels like a parody of a Marvel film. Anthony Mackie deserves better.

Chris DeVille, Stereogum:

Here’s a good bit: Rent out the American Football house, which is now an Airbnb, and write your own album there. Here’s a fun twist on that bit: Use the unique circumstances to execute a surprising aesthetic pivot.

Anamanaguchi, one of the world’s foremost chiptune bands, have announced their new album Anyway today. It’s a rock album with traditional rock instruments — i.e. not the video game music the band made its name on — and they wrote it in the Champaign, IL rental home pictured on the cover of twinkly, jazzy Midwest emo heroes American Football’s 1999 debut album. The house can also be seen on the cover of Anyway. American Football and their label Polyvinyl — which also happens to be Anamanaguchi’s label — now own the house, so securing it for a creative retreat was easy.

The first single, the very very good Weezer-and-or-Ozma influenced “Darcie”, has a video up here. The album, Anyway. releases on August 8th. I can’t wait!

Austin Wood, GamesRadar+:

Video games exist, in large part, because people want fun and interesting ways to spend their time, as is the case with any other form of entertainment.

But there is arguably an especially pertinent connection between the timing of the Switch 2 launch, the general state of the world, and the ethos attached to Nintendo games. “It’s been so long since we’ve had a new console hardware platform,” Piscatella continues. “It’s been years. It’s been a long time, and people are looking for things to kind of get their mind off of what’s going on elsewhere. You can even see it online, just the desire people have to have something to be excited about. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my own perspective, but I just see this palpable desperation, in a sense, of wanting to find something to bring joy.

“And a lot of people are locking on to this, which, good for them.”

Comment above from Mat Piscatella, a long-time video game industry analyst. And I don’t think he’s wrong.

Between the sales announcement being directly impacted by tariffs, to the intent of just pure capital-F Fun™, there’s something transgressive about the Switch 2 right now.

A defiant act of “the world is on fire, so I’m gonna lose myself in some blue shells for a while”.

Is that an inherently positive thing? Probably not. But I’ll be damned if right now, the June 5th release date isn’t one of my more anticipated dates of the year.

I couldn’t tell you when exactly it happened, but at some point in the last few years, I got really into baseball.¹

And I mean really into baseball.

Sure, it helped that the Baltimore Orioles have — after a lengthy downturn — been a top-tier team in baseball², but it’s become an ongoing concern for me. It helps that my wife is into it as well, and I’m pretty sure of the 162+ games last season, we watched or listened to easily 120+ of them.

But what is it about the game that I find so compelling? Why this? Why now?

Besides the obvious thought of sports being my midlife crisis interest³, I think there’s something to be said about the construction around the sport itself.

Baseball isn’t about living and dying on every win or loss. It’s about the long game. It’s about the marathon. When the best are considered such because they have a .500 average, that still means they’re losing half the time. You see players ebb and flow through a lengthy spring, summer and fall of games. They get on a hot streak. They get the yips. Star making seasons can be ended in an instance with an injury, or legends can be made in a moment, with a perfectly timed swing, or an out of this world catch.

For a fan, it’s as lengthy a roller coaster as it can be for the teams themselves.

But at the same time, there’s a community. It’s not about 16 weeks of do-or-die, it’s about digging in, finding your grit, supporting your team, and hoping for the best. It’s about going to the games with family and friends. It’s about having a near-nightly tradition in a time where the world feels more erratic than ever.

2025 is, was, has been, and continues to be a rough year. But almost every day, I can sit down, dig in for two hours and change, and just enjoy the game of baseball.

It also doesn’t hurt that here in Maryland we are blessed with a great commentary duo, with Kevin Brown on play-by-play, and former pitcher Ben McDonald on color. Kevin’s a stats geek, a pop culture nerd, obsessed with ballpark food, and isn’t afraid to talk about Blink 182 during a game that isn’t going so well. Ben’s a seasoned hand, who has been up and down in the game of baseball. He knows what it’s like to win, and what it’s like to lose. And he’s there, like an uncle almost, to delight in the success, but give tough love in the times of strife. For the wrestling nerds reading this, think of them as how Excalibur and Taz play against each other for AEW’s commentary.

I’m now digging deeper, learning more. I know what RISP means. I think I understand ERAs. I have capital-t Thoughts about pitching.

But the important thing is this — for a few hours a day, life slows down, balls get hit, and all is well.

I’m sure none of what I said above is particularly original when it comes to talking about baseball, but the fact is: sharing this with my wife, building friendships with fellow fans, connecting with people in the real world about the O’s in times good and bad — it reminds me the world isn’t entirely awful. And right now, we need more of that.

Perfect? No. But a reminder of just how straightforward and fun these movies were. Barely tied to the “saga”, solid performances from flawed characters. Had a good time.

Also, the score kinda goes hard?

This review may contain spoilers.

Questlove: Here’s my SNL doc with the coolest mashup you’ve ever seen.

Ryan Coogler: Hold my beer.

(Also, Ludwig Goransson did not need to go so hard.)

2D animation, forever and ever.

Just a fun movie — the animation is so dynamic, and the writing sharp.

Can’t say I expected a homage to John Carpenter’s The Thing?

Shout out Ketchup Entertainment.

Back in 2020, superstar comic artist Dan Mora posted a random idea. Mashing up the Batman characters with the style of Japanese tokusatsu, the genre which we in the states know best for Ultraman and Power Rangers.

People were very into it, and it’s hard to blame them.

And some of those people? Pretty well known for comics of their own – Radiant Black’s writer, Kyle Higgins, and Inferno Girl Red artist Erica D’Urso.

They have some history with writing and illustrating toku inspired comics, with Radiant Black borrowing key elements from the genre, and Inferno Girl Red being a spin-off in the same universe, called the Massive-Verse.

It’s taken five years, but DC Comics listened, as revealed this past weekend at the C2E2 Convention…

AIPT:

During the “Kyle Higgins Presents: Radiant Black, The Massive-Verse and More!” panel, Kyle will announce a new DC Elseworlds limited series, Immortal Legend Batman. It features co-writer Mat Groom (Radiant Black, Inferno Girl Red) and art by Dan Mora (Superman, Justice League Unlimited, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest).

“In Immortal Legend Batman, Dan, Mat, Erica, and I are using elements of ‘superhero tokusatsu,’ so readers can expect to see cool and recognizable elements like mech/armor-style transformations, specifically named combat moves, a gradually expanding team, and more,” said writer Higgins.

That’s right, Immortal Legend Batman is the title, and the first issue hits shelves in August 2025. It’s awesome to see a company like DC not be afraid to embrace alternative versions of their characters, and put name creators on the book as well.

Sadly, Mora will be working more on the covers than the interiors, but I know D’Urso is up for the gig.

Massive kudos to whichever editor approved this…more of this, big two, more of this.

I feel like this is a DVD which my friends and I would’ve circulated amongst each other.

Fun enough of a movie, though, man, Jack Quaid is having a tough time with relationships on the big screen this year.

More Amber Midthunder, please.

I really loved the book the movie is based on, Mickey 7, but the tone is very different for this film version. Maybe I would have been more enamored with it without the context, but this didn’t entirely work for me.

Just keep giving me stylish Soderbergh movies with David Holmes scores, and I’ll be happy forever.

Watched on Sunday March 23, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 15, 2025.

ESPN:

Back inside the Diamond Lounge, Ho pointed out something Silver would never forget.

“If you notice,” he told Silver, “the restaurants in Chinatown are empty.”

Silver paused.

“The Chinese community in the U.S. are quite aware of what’s going on in China – much more than the general public,” Ho said. “And the Chinatown restaurants are a reflection of that. People are scared.”

The two talked for 15 minutes. Silver had already been concerned about the possibility of filling NBA arenas with nearly 20,000 fans, but the unemotional, matter-of-fact tone from Ho was striking. The next morning, on the same day the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global public health emergency, Silver called Ho and asked whether he would serve as a consultant for the NBA on COVID-19. Ho agreed.

The first, goosebump inducing moment of this amazing oral history of the day the NBA shutdown due to COVID, which was – believe it or not – five years ago today.

Definitely going to be hanging with me today the five years that have passed, what happened in them, and who we are now versus who we were then.

Gematsu:

The timeless RPG Chrono Trigger, which first launched for Super Famicom in 1995, celebrates its 30th anniversary on March 11 in Japan. In a celebration post on its official Twitter account, Square Enix said users can look forward to various developments that go beyond the world of the game throughout the next year.

I admit, I was a latecomer to Chrono Trigger, playing it via emulator some years after its initial release. But, wow. What a game.

It truly is one of the best JRPGs of its era, if not all time.

I’m sure the celebration events hinted to are more likely to be, say, Chrono Trigger concerts, as opposed to a new game or redux version…but, Squeenix, old pal, if you were to HD2D this, like you did with Dragon Quest? Day one. Full price.

Apple Newsroom:

In this quirky action game — an Apple Arcade exclusive — players expand their Katamari by rolling up objects scattered across the earth. Featuring unique and whimsical gameplay, and a captivating soundtrack that blends different genres, the game invites players to energize the king’s “live stream” by rolling their Katamari to create stars. As users advance, comments from in-game fans appear, and the longer they play, the larger their audience grows. By completing the king’s challenges and boosting their subscriber count, players can unlock dynamic new stages.

The proper title of the game is Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE. The Katamari franchise is one of my all time favorites, and I am incredibly excited to see a new installment.

The question, however, is this: the games have always been, uh, quirky in their controls, and that’s with two proper analog sticks. How’s this going to work via touch?

What a ride. Sophie Thatcher is really becoming one to watch. And somehow, Jack Quaid is both doing a great Superman AND plays a real shithead here.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER. GO IN AS BLIND AS YOU CAN.

Competent, solid filmmaking that sadly never gets to a full boiling point. So close!

Cats Are The Best: The Motion Picture

Hell of a movie. Incredible performances, but the cinematographer did (heh) the lord’s work here.

12 Angry Men, meet 138 Grumpy Cardinals.