Craig Reviews South Park: Faith Hilling

*SPOILER WARNING*

When I heard earlier in the week that South Park would be dealing with the Republican debates this week the potential for mockery seemed endless, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the oddity that was ‘Faith Hilling’. This episode was beyond weird, and in a way it says a lot about the state of South Park at the moment, especially the final seconds of the episode. That recycled humour that many have criticised the show for recently was extremely prevalent in this episode, in fact in a way it almost seemed like Matt and Trey were revelling in creating an episode that would give those criticising the show, myself included, some more ammo. Yet, somehow, this ended up being one of the funniest episodes in recent memory, even if it is a one-trick pony, because the one trick this pony knows is really hilarious.

Craig Reviews The River

*SPOILER WARNING*


I came into this series with high hopes that this could end up being a really interesting TV event. I’ve only seen the first Paranormal Activity film, and I enjoyed it greatly, and I seem to be one of the few people out there who isn’t completely sick of the whole found footage gimmick yet, so I was looking forward to seeing what Oren Peli could bring to a horror miniseries. Unfortunately the show does virtually nothing new or exciting; instead it’s an almost-exact carbon copy of Paranormal Activity in every way, except set in a jungle. It’s consistently ridiculous, and often derivative, filled with horror tropes that are already over-used, making for a series that feels stale at best, and is laughable at it’s worst.

Craig Reviews Smash: The Workshop

*SPOILER WARNING*


A lot of things finally came to a head in this week’s episode of Smash, making for one of the most interesting episodes so far. This was the first time that the ‘Let’s make a musical!’ half of the show really felt properly combined with the personal drama half, and by the end of the episode pretty much everyone had something to be frowning about. Indeed, we even have doubts for the first time over whether Marilyn: The Musical will even get made, but it turns out that this show gets really interesting when everything goes wrong.

Craig Reviews GCB: Love Is Patient

*SPOILER WARNING*


This episode felt a lot more focused than the first two episodes of the series, which I think the show really needed after two episodes that, while very much enjoyable, were quite tightly packed in terms of plot. This is a much more relaxed episode, in that there's not a a whole lot of plot going on, but that's not to say it was boring. There was a lot more humour in this episode, making for the funniest episode so far, and getting to know a bit more about the not-so-private lives of Carlene, Sharon and Cricket remains as enjoyable as it was for the first two episodes. The episode did admittedly leave me craving more story development once it had finished, but I guess we've always got next week for that.

Craig Reviews The Hunger Games

*SPOILER WARNING*

To say that I was looking forward to seeing The Hunger Games would be a dramatic understatement. I started reading the books last year, after my Twitter feed suddenly lit up with talk of the film on the day that the first pictures of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss were released, and I found myself hooked immediately. As the film drew closer I did however find myself slightly worried that it couldn’t live up to the hype. After all, it was the relentless tension that kept me glued to the book, and now that I knew the story, would the film be able to recreate that rush that I got at the end of every chapter? Fortunately, the answer is no. Yes, you read that right. The film is not as intense as the book in a lot of ways, but it has a gripping presence that is all it’s own. In condensing the source material the film manages to be both enjoyable for fans of the book, who will no doubt be flocking to cinemas, as well a great film in it’s own right, one that will hopefully introduce a lot more people to Katniss Everdeen.

Craig Reviews South Park: Cash For Gold

*SPOILER WARNING*

I’m happy to report that this week we finally got a great episode of South Park again! It’s been a while, and after last week’s episode I was not holding out much hope, but this was a clever, relevant and even at times poignant episode. There was barely any toilet humour in sight this week, and no recycled jokes, instead we get a ton of really smart humour as the boys tackled the recent emergence of Cash For Gold stores, in an episode that felt really driven and focused for the first time in a long time. I’m not about to start praising a glorious return to the old ways for South Park, after all even last season had it’s flashes of inspiration, but if this is any indication of things to come then I’m very excited indeed.

Craig Reviews Resident Evil: Revelations

I've had this game since it launched back in January, and initially enjoyed it greatly. My last experience with the Resident Evil franchise was Resident Evil 4, which remains one of my favourite games, and towards the start at least this game bears a lot of resemblance to it's excellent predecessor. Halfway through however, the tense atmosphere dissipates and leaves an action-heavy, and somewhat tiring, point-and-shoot game in it’s place. At this point I stalled for a long time, but with Kid Icarus: Uprising just days away I decided it was finally time to finish the campaign mode at least once. I’m glad I did as the last few chapters did a lot to make up for the slightly unfocused middle section, with some great action setpieces that really make the game stand out from anything else available on 3DS at the moment.