Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith:
This limited series remake is a misfire that's barely worth watching. The spy aspects of the show are just a throwaway canvas for the lead actors to argue and be miserable in their marriage (it sometimes reminded me of Fleishman is in Trouble in that regard). There are some sparks of creativity in the last few episodes, but it takes way too long to get there. This might have been better with a different title -- the one selected misleads you into thinking you'll be getting something completely different. On Amazon Video.

Final Grade: C

Untitled Goose Game (Switch):
A pleasant, indie game where you play a goose and you have to be as annoying as possible in an English village. Think scaring children, stealing food, tricking the gardener into getting soaked in the sprinkler. It has a novel concept and slightly offputting repetitive controls, especially when you fail at a task and have to start all over again. Good for a brief distraction.

Final Grade: B-

5-Minute Dungeon:
This cooperative card game combines the frantic chaos of multiplayer solitaire with a fun dungeon romp. Each game lasts 5 minutes although it takes slightly longer than that to sort all the cards for the next round. Very easy to pick up (Maia plays it flawlessly) and very fun. We haven't delved deeply into the dungeon yet, but we've gotten pretty good at beating the first boss in round one. The difficulty increases in each 5-minute round (similar to the way you can raise the starting tide level in Forbidden Island).

Final Grade: B+

Petition by Delilah Waan:
This debut fantasy novel is a solid foundation with a few rough edges. The author effectively depicts a sympathetic, determined protagonist clawing her way out of poverty and an interesting magic system. The secondary characters and setting both feel fairly shallow, as if they only exist to support the main character. Where this book shines is in its pacing -- the steady build towards successively more intense situations blended with moments of introspection and catharsis worked really well for me and kept me reading to the end.

Final Grade: B-