val kilmer

Jack Attack Tuesday

Stalag 17, The Witcher 3 and Lost Soul

First of all, I hope everyone had an opportunity to enjoy themselves over Memorial Day weekend.  It’s a nice break but it’s always important to remember why we have the holiday off, as my compatriot Luke outlined in his article this week.  I know on the BingeCast we teased a possible Monday Morning Moreno but we didn’t get around to it.  As a result, it did make me go back and rewatch what I typically call my favorite World War II film, Stalag 17.  Stalag 17 is the movie that launched the tv series Hogan’s Heroes, centered around a group of POWs being held by the German forces.  I know there’s a stigma against old, black and white movies, but I always point to this as being an incredibly modern feeling flick.  From the fantastic story, character development and badass performance by my OG boy William Holden this movie is a stone-cold classic.  My Grandad told me to watch this years ago and I’ve been revisiting it ever since.  Criminally under-appreciated by audiences today, if you haven’t seen this yet you are in for a real treat.  That’s right, this is a 10/10 all day.

Those of you that are playing the game already know, but I will reiterate here: The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt may be the best video game I’ve ever played.  I don’t know if it’s my favorite yet but I can tell you after about 20 hours and being less than 15% of the way through the content I can safely say this has set a new standard for RPG gaming.  On the surface there are a lot of things going against this game.  Typically in an RPG, creating your character is the most fun and customizable part, and here you are given the character of Geralt, yet somehow through his nuance and customization he feels wildly different depending on how you play him.  In the same way I couldn’t see how GTA V would juggle three main characters until I played it, I had a similar hesitation with this game, and just like the aforementioned GTA V, Witcher 3 did not disappoint or pull any punches.  Choices in the game change the game world in meaningful and impactful ways, more-so than other games I’ve played.  If you haven’t joined the party yet, get on it.

Finally, I had an opportunity to see a new and insane documentary called Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau.  I’ve said it here before that I really appreciate and enjoy documentaries that shine a light on something I had no idea had even happened/existed before, and this was one such flick.  Essentially, this is the story of the Marlon Brando/Val Kilmer starring The Island of Dr. Moreau which was wrought with complications, obstacles and turmoil from literally all sides.  Richard Stanley was a guy that I immediately recognized from another great documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune, but knew very little from him outside of that.  What I found was that despite his quirkiness he came across as an incredibly intelligent, well-read and approachable person with a passion for the occult and science fiction.  I have to be honest, this film shares quite a few similarities with Jodorowsky’s Dune in that this is a document of a failed film project, but one of the pleasant surprises here was the insight into the insanity of Marlon Brando.  I’ve always seen Brando as one of the truly interesting characters in film.  Brando was great in many roles but seen by many as, for lack of a better term, a serious douche-canoe, and it’s evident here through interviews and testimony that he loved to play people and rake in the dollars with as little effort as possible.  There’s a lot here to absorb and, as I do with all great documentaries, I will revisit this soon because the story is so wacky.  Get on this if you can find it. 9/10.

I bet you appreciate the lack of Patriots talk don’tcha…DON’TCHA?!?!  Sometimes you have to let shit go, and for this week I am.  Keep an eye out for a solid gamer cast where we WILL go deeper on Witcher 3 as well as our weekly content, and as always, Binge On!