The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

I should preface this post by stating I’m not a fan of cell shading.
I have several small problems with this game, mostly dealing with how link is a meek looking little boy and the overall feel of the game has been “cute-ified”. That being said, it is a fantastic game. It is smooth beyond all belief, not to hard, but also not pandering. I had to have help with the beginning of the game transitioning from Ocarina’s rather simple puzzles to this games slightly more involved was a trick (I would never have guessed to try to burn down wooden blockades with a fire torch, it just seemed to… forward). Further review should follow as I’m still in the middle of playing through it.

Cooking Mama

Well the first word of the title drew me in without playing it whatsoever. Basically a collection of “mini-games” concerning food, but not the usual definition of “mini-game”: each “mini-game” is a technique for cooking, such as chopping, de-scaling, kneading, adding ingredients in proper order, and other of the ilk. It uses proper ingredients for an international menu, just without measurements, so no actually copying of recipes can be done.
The game is definitely fun, but its not something for a sit down marathon of playing, and the designers know it, so each recipe is its own beast which you can try, not needing to play for more than five minutes at a time if you so choose.

Mario Strikers Charged

Nintendo did a great service leaving "soccer" out of the title in America, I'm just surprised to learn the PAL version has football in the title as this game has absolutely no soccer/football in it.

The Dark Knight

Masterful. Epic in scope and delivery. I’m not going to break it down in any means as you should experience it for yourself firsthand. Heath Ledger is the best villain I have ever seen, truly expressing the persona of the (ret-conned) Joker. Absolutely blows Hannibal Lecter away. Christian Bale also delivers on the best Batman, his striking portrayal of the gradual change into the true “schizophrenic” that is Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne.

Howl's Moving Castle

Entertaining, creative, and funny, but definitely not Miyazaki’s best. Billy Crystal definitely steals the show with his Calcifer. Perhaps my problem was seeing Spirited Away first, as this one seems like a shadow that masterpiece.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The classic and the best of the Zeldas deserved another play through, and so we did; sort of a speed run with nothing too extraneous, just the necessities for completion. The tone and pitch of this game is excellent, balancing the sun and mirth of the child Link with the dire times of old Link. There are several decision the programmers made that still leave you scratching your head in confusion such as the Great Fairy’s outfit and screaming entry (which is currently my text tone, lovely looks on faces that one evokes). The ending, of course, leaves something to be desired, but if you’re playing a Zelda game, or damn near any cartridge game for that matter, for the ending or story then you’re doing it wrong.

Jeepers Creepers

There are movies that have no explanation for their contents; they simply go forward without needing to explain the mechanism or background for the story. The two easiest examples of this that come to mind are Cube and Colverfield to some degree. In Cube, the characters wake up in the cube and its never explained what it is or why it is. This works because A) it’s a good movie, will made and cohesive and B) because is a character study.
Jeepers Creepers somehow attempts to do this and fails horribly. A creature is going around killing the inhabitants of a small town trying to get to the Apple ad guy Justin Long, and when he finally does get his prey that’s it, end of the show. It is a statement to the low quality of the movie that my first inclination as to why there is no exposition of the reason behind the killer was because they forgot to put it in, not because it was an artistic choice.