Were Rick and Morty real people, they would both shit on me for wanting to watch a TV show on Blu-ray or DVD, especially one that’s on a streaming service I’m subscribed to. And don’t even get me started on what Summer would say. But I don’t care, because after watching Rick And Morty: Season 5 on Blu-ray, I can suffer their verbal slings and arrows, confident in the knowledge that this is the best way to watch this hilarious sci-fi animated show.
In 1996, when Mike Judge made Beavis And Butt-Head Do America, the idea of turning a TV show into a movie wasn’t new. Mission: Impossible had come out a few months prior, The Fugitive had done it 3 years earlier, and the ’60s Batman show had beaten all of them to the punch by thirty years. But America was the first time a cartoon for adults was making the leap since The Flintstones‘ 1966 film The Man Called Flintstone, and fans (and studio executives) were unsure of what would happen. Turns out, they need not have been concerned. Beavis And Butt-Head Do America was not only a big hit, but it was regarded as one of the best adventures these idiots ever went on (and still is).
Which makes it really odd that Beavis And Butt-Head Do America is only now being released on Blu-ray (though far less so when you realize this year marks the movie’s twenty-fifth anniversary…and that Judge is now making a sequel for Paramount+).
Still, for fans who’ve been enjoying this movie on DVD for the past two dozen years, the question is, should they upgrade?
Thanks to its multiplayer mode being free, and super good, it’s easy to forget that Halo Infinite (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC) also has a single-player campaign. That is, unless you’re one of the people who prefer to play these games solo, and with its epic sci-fi space opera story driving the action. It’s for them — by which I mean us — that I present this assessment of Halo Infinite‘s story driven campaign.
In my never-ending quest to find jazz groups of atypical instrumentation and configuration, it never occurred to me that one possibility might be a quartet where four people play the same kind if instrument. Which may be why — despite recording three dozen albums — I’m only just now hearing about the aptly-named ROVA Saxophone Quartet, courtesy of their new album, The Circumference Of Reason (CD, digital). But if Reason is any indication of what they’ve been up the past 24 years, I have a lot of questing into their back catalog to do.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: I love shooting Nazis in the face from the first-person perspective. And with all the shit going on in the world — people shouting “Jews will not replace us”; people wearing sweatshirts with Nazi symbols to keep warm while committing treason — my trigger finger is especially itchy these days. Thankfully, shooting Nazis is exactly what you get, and more, from the World War II first-person shooter Call Of Duty: Vanguard (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC). But what makes this installment really satisfying is how, across the board, the good people at Sledgehammer Games have added interesting new mechanics while keeping, and bringing back, what made this shooter series so great in the first place.
We like our video games sequels like we like new albums by our favorite bands: we want some evolution, but not to the point where it seems unfamiliar. Which is going to be a problem for some fans of the Forza Horizon series of open world racing games, since Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC) doesn’t add much in the way of gameplay to distinguish it from previous installments. But for people just looking for an engaging racing game — i.e., me — Forza Horizon 5 provides the same level of racing excitement as, well, previous installments.
It doesn’t matter what you put on a pizza; if the cheese, sauce, and crust aren’t good, the pizza won’t be good, no matter what you pile on top. The same is true for combative action games. If the combat is bad, the game is bad, no matter what other mechanics there might be. Which is the problem with Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC), a story-driven, sci-fi, third-person shooter whose problematic combat and other rather basic problems somewhat undermine an otherwise entertaining space adventure.
Throughout his career, saxophonist Ivo Perelman has worked with many different musicians, in many different configurations. But some of his best work has come when he’s teamed up with a piano player, be it Karl Berger (2014’s Reverie, 2016’s The Hitchhiker), Borah Bergman (1996’s Geometry), or the half a dozen he’s made with with Matthew Shipp. Which brings us to his new 9-disc boxed set, Brass And Ivory Tales (CD, digital), on which he collaborates with as many iconic piano players, most of whom are making their first appearance in his discography.
Like their previous games Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Evolve, Turtle Rock Studios’ Back 4 Blood (Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC) is a first-person shooter that’s meant to be played co-op. But unlike those games, Blood is also clearly made for people who’d like to play solo. Not to the same point a Call Of Duty sequel or Halogame, where there’s a dedicated story-driven campaign, but certainly enough that you can still have a good time even if you don’t play well with others.