david.reviews: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

★★★★: An excellent action RPG. Loved the breezy island setting and the exploration aspect. Finding castaways to grow your base who also act as shopkeepers is brilliant design- it helps your exploratio...

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david.reviews: Thunderball

★★★★: I think it's got the worst treatment of its female characters of the Bonds so far, but everything else kind of rocks. The underwater scenes are cool and the plot felt like it had real stakes whi...

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david.reviews: Spider-Man: No Way Home

★★★★: Manages to stand on its own as a touching action movie, but also cash in on nearly 20 years of Spider-Men in film. It's just such a delight. A crushing, emotional delight.

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david.reviews: Echo Isle

★★★☆: A compact, classic-Zelda inspired adventure game. I like that it followed the classic formula well: 4 little dungeons, each with an upgrade and a boss. True to its word, there's no fluff. A sin...

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david.reviews: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

★★☆☆: As an unapologetic lover of the Pirates movies, this one is always a bit of a letdown. It's got its moments and a top tier cast (as usual) but it's a little too cheeky. It treads on winks to the...

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david.reviews: The Parent Trap

★★★★: Perfectly paced. Great performances all around. Lots of cute moments. Some truly dangerous pranks. Where are the adults at the camp??

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david.reviews: Goldfinger

★★★★: Still a little goofy in that way 60s movies were, but has a pretty straightforward plot and some fun action. Good humor too, he's cheeky. The series is really starting to come together!

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david.reviews: Enola Holmes 3

★★★★: Returned to the frenetic pace of the first one, which I like. It dipped a bit, especially with so many flashback clips. But the story was good and it was a light, exciting watch.

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david.reviews: Fail Fail Succeed

★★★☆: Cute little puzzle platformer where dying with an ability alters leaves something behind to help you solve puzzles. Neat concept, but (despite the cute dog) not really something I'd spend a ton ...

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david.reviews: Jurassic Park

★★★★: RIP Sam Neill. Great movie though, per usual. So many fun details. And wild how it just established what a T-Rex sounds like. Everyone just agrees now.

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"The Incident at Galley House" reimagines a modern classic

A non-linear story that you have to piece together makes for a superb time.

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david.reviews: Drop Duchy

★★★★: Excellent strategy game that mixes Tetris and deckbuilding. Shouldn't work as well as it does, but it's a hoot. There's a pretty good variety of deck archetypes and you can combine them in inter...

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david.reviews: Her

★★★☆: Sort of a slow, fascinating movie. Wish I had seen it years ago so I could watch it again now, with current context. I admired its tiny cast, but never felt myself connecting with the protagon...

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david.reviews: A Drop of Corruption

★★★★: Another excellent fantasy mystery full of political intrigue and layers of deception. Had me guessing at every step. There's a lot to keep track of, but it builds its case well. The worldbuildin...

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david.reviews: The Red Pearls of Borneo

★★★☆: Heavily inspired by "Type Help", it does a good job carving out its own niche with a larger cast, multiple sections, and a visual interface to help your solve. I loved how much actual history it...

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david.reviews: From Russia with Love

★★★☆: Certainly has its charms. Feels like we're starting to inch closer to the modern Bond experience. There's a great spy vs spy scene and then a bunch of goody nonsense stuff too. Interesting to se...

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david.reviews: A League of Their Own

★★★★: An excellent blend of sports and family drama. All time classic

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david.reviews: Shadows of Doubt

★★☆☆: It's a technically impressive game, but wasn't for me. I end up with the same problem I have with most immersive sims- there are so many ways to approach something that playing it at all becomes...

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Map Map turns triangulation into triumph

Explore little islands and fulfil your cartographical dreams!

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david.reviews: Theater Camp

★★★★: This felt like they made Fame, but well. Everyone is earnest and over the top. You know where it's going, but the dry humor and unstoppable theater kid energy make it a delight.

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david.reviews: Holes

★★★★: Got to be one of the best book adaptations ever. Immaculately cast, covers its heavy bits well, and everything comes together nicely. Great watch in the TX summer.

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david.reviews: Pizza Movie

★★★★: I don't usually enjoy drug trip movies, but this was excellent. It felt like a cross between 21 Jump Street and Community, dialed up to 11. The segments of ludicity provided some nice character ...

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david.reviews: Tales of Berseria

★★☆☆: As a longtime enjoyer of the Tales series, I came into Berseria with high hopes (and shame on me for letting the community set those expectations so high) and it failed to meet them. The bigge...

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david.reviews: The Iron Giant

★★★★: Silly, touching, and beautiful. Paints a charming picture of 50s America and the characters really pull their weight.

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david.reviews: Frostpunk

★★★★: Played all the base scenarios and some of the DLC (The Last Autumn). I had forgotten how well this game flows. City builders can get bogged down in minutia, but Frostpunk manages to strike the p...

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david.reviews: Chorus

★★☆☆: Chorus initially wowed me with its freedom of motion and huge sense of scale. Its dogfighting battles were chaotic and cool, but felt like something I could really get good at. And that was true...

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david.reviews: Small Time Crooks

★★★☆: Sort of charming little humorous character drama. Tracy Ullman steals the show. I might have liked a little more plot but it wraps up nicely.

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