Highly Recommended April

Hello there, Andrew here with another edition of Highly Recommended! No major announcements this time, save for an interview I did with Sci-Fi Fan Letter last month. Other than that, on with the recommendations!


Movies



The Hobbit divided a lot of folks. Some (like me) really loved it, others thought it was a major disappointment. Whatever your opinions are of Peter Jackson's decision to stretch Tolkien's one-volume story of Bilbo Baggins into three movies, or the squabble over frame-rate or call-attention-to-itself moments of 3D, it's rare to see fantasy so lovingly adapted for the big screen. I can ignore all of the other stuff about The Hobbit and just enjoy the story. One among those reasons being I'm a huge dwarf enthusiast, and The Lord of the Rings is such an enormous part of my young-adulthood that I can't help but watch the films while simultaneously flashback to high school, hanging out with friends and discussing the films at length.

With The Hobbit Blu-ray, you get the film and the digital copy, and a 10-part video blog production diary. Which, while very interesting, doesn't seem quite up to snuff with the oodles of stuff you got with the Lord of the Rings DVDs back in the day. There's no feature commentaries (which would've been awesome to have the entire dwarf cast, plus Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, all talking at once), no anything besides that ten-part video diary. Which makes me think in a few months, probably around Christmas time, shortly before part 2 of The Hobbit trilogy hits theaters, we'll be getting the Director's Cut with eight Blu-ray disks of goodies. I kind of hate how double dipping is so par for the course now with how studios release their content. Used to be they put out the standard edition, the bare bones DVD, then the ultra supreme deluxe edition at the same time for the fanboys to pick up if they'd be willing to dish out the additional ten or twenty bucks. Now they release the bare bones edition, let you go ahead and pick that up just because you're driven into purchasing it just to see the movie again, and then a few months on release all the stuff you actually wanted, later. But, nowadays if you want to be a serious fanboy of something and save yourself from having ten different versions of the same thing, you have to be patient and wait for the one you want to get released. Hell, I still have my Army of Darkness special editions on VHS, all four of them.

But, as far as just the movie is concerned, The Hobbit is a wonderful time. Great special effects, compelling story, well-done action, and loveable characters. I've already watched this twice since picking up and I'll probably put it on a few hundred times more.

Recommended For: I'm pretty sure you know if you'd be into The Hobbit or not.


Books



Fade to Black, Francis Knight.

Fade to Black is a really interesting novel in that it's not really sci-fi and it's not really fantasy either. Sure, there are mages (pain mages) but there's also use of semi-modern weaponry like pistols and a form of contained electricity called Glow that powers everything from carriages to lighting in and around the city. And as much as I hate the expression, "The setting is a character in and of itself!" it really applies here. The city of Mahala was built up and not out. The rich get to bask in the sun and see the sky while the poor live in the lower levels where the expression shit rolls downhill really applies. Fade to Black is a noir-drenched steampunk/fantasy novel set in a rollicking first-person perspective of Rojan Dizon, a sort of steampunk gumshoe with a troubled past who is sent on a mission to seek out his niece in the 'Pit, the lower-most sector of Mahala. I'm only about halfway into it and so far I am absolutely positive I'll be reading the next installment, and anything else Francis Knight puts out!

Recommended For: If you've ever wanted to read a novel set in the video game worlds of Thief or Dishonored, look no further!


Games



Bioshock Infinite


We've been waiting a long time for this one. And rest assured while I do not do spoilers here, I'll simply say Bioshock Infinite, if you're a gamer whatsoever, you owe it to yourself to at least try this game. You'll be thrilled, you'll laugh, you'll be repulsed. It says things games don't dare say, asks questions that don't dare be asked. And like Bioshock, puts a mirror up to the gamer and asks them to analyze the things they do.

Currently I'm playing through it on 1999 mode, which, yes, you have to enter the Konami code at the start menu to access. This is where the part of this game being Highly Recommended comes in. I absolutely love the addition of this mode. For a while there, my interest in gaming was starting to wane. They were getting far too easy and hand-holdy with refilling health bars and unlimited restarts and zero punishment for screwing up. Dark Soul rekindled (no pun intended) my love of gaming--difficult gaming--and for a while I was indifferent to Bioshock Infinite's release figuring it'd take after Halo and such with the aforementioned rounded edged gameplay. Nope. Dead wrong. With 1999 mode, Bioshock Infinite becomes a game straight out of my formative years as a gamer. I grew up playing the original Deus Ex, and before that, games that had three continues--and that was it. Games that were trying their damndest to stop you. And there was where the fun was, believe it or not; in the challenge.

And 1999 mode gets it exactly right.

Recommended For: Bioshock Infinite itself: Gamers. All gamers.

But 1999 Mode, on the other hand, is only recommended for those with patience, who don't mind having to struggle to make progress, who like having to think before going into combat situations, and enjoy actually being scared when big baddies come bounding along with murder in their eyes.


Another title I'd highly recommended is Banner Saga: Factions. Available on Steam for free, this is a turn-based strategy game that's kind of like someone said, "Hey, you know what? Chess is too simple."

Relax. I'm kidding. It's fun!

So you have various units that're capable of various moves that can be upgraded and promoted and . . . yeah. It's all about the numbers, like most RPG strategy games. But what makes this one really special is the art direction. Think of Ralph Bakshi's Wizards or that first Heavy Metal movie or the original He-Man series from the 80s and you'll get an idea of what I mean. Gone are the elves and dwarves, sadly, but instead there's a race of horned giants and a very mature feel to everything. What's also great is that while the violence, on screen, isn't so bad, the sound effects are ghastly. I found myself cringing whenever one of my warriors smacked an archer with his pole-axe and it made a sound that if you heard in a bar, you'd be checking the floor for teeth.

Recommended For: If you're a fan of turn-based strategy ala Final Fantasy Tactics and like fantasy fiction for grown-ups like Glen Cook's The Black Company. If you have an interest in both those things, like me, you'll really enjoy Banner Saga: Factions.


TV Series



Lost Girl

Lost Girl is an urban fantasy TV series out of Canada that puts me in the mind of something written by Patricia Briggs or Jim Butcher. Really, if Lost Girl was a series of mass market novels featuring cover art of Bo in a state of semi-undress and wielding a warhammer with a sultry, otherworldly glow in her eyes, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. (Also, I would read the crap out of those books.) But Lost Girl is one of those series that's fun to just put on and kick back. It asks nothing of you other than to enjoy it. Monster-of-the-week plot, a little interpersonal drama, a great friendship between Bo and Kenzi, and a bit of love story between main lady Bo and Dyson the werewolf cop who looks remarkably like the lead singer of Coldplay.

It's a good time. It's also available for instant streaming on Netflix, with a few seasons ready to go.