Shortly after the video camera was invented special effects started to make its way into movies. The early director everyone likes to talk about is George Melies who used his background as a magician to pioneer special effects in the early 1900s. In most film studies class he is a go to for discussing mise-en-scène (whatever is in the frame). His works aren’t full of symbolism like the German expressionism movement or famous directors like Orsen Wells, but they are such a pure expression of what a movie can be visually that he is considered to be one of the greats. His studio would even go so far as to hand paint film prints to give it color. Impressing people visually was his pure goal. In Japan this kind of special effects driven film making was given the term “tokusatsu” which is largely associated with movies like Gojira and Super Sentai’s “suitmation”, movies where an actor in a large suit destroys models, but refers to any special effect driven movie...

Night in the Woods is a 2d side scrolling narrative driven game about growing up, stagnation, and finding a place in the universe. A classic college existential crisis. The game consists of running around Mae’s small hometown and talking to various characters, with a cute, quirky, and cozy art style that perfectly reflects the game’s writing. Like one of my favorite movies Me You and Everyone We Know the game is grounded in the minutiae of everyday life, yet prescribes a deeper meaning to these tiny events, creating a world of cutesy scenes that have a deep emotional impact and will stick with you. The art is some of the best I’ve seen, nicely capturing the flat charm of the Little Golden Books or Tomm Moore movies, but with a minimalist and moody yet comforting color direction. It’s a charming and emotional time and I highly recommend people play it, but there’s so major issues that I don’t see enough people talking about...