Think way back to 2000, most people had no idea who Christopher Nolan was. Hard to believe now that his Batman Trilogy is wrapping up in theaters (review here), and Inception has come and gone making a billion dollars. Nolan has quickly cemented himself as the best name in blockbuster directors which can largely be attributed to his ability to perfectly balance the dumb down Hollywood movie made for the public, while still providing a little meat for the people looking for a deeper experience.  

Memento is widely credited as Nolan’s second film after the 1998 movie Following. It’s about a man named Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, who is incapable of making new memories after the rape and murder of his wife. Leonard is hunting down the men responsible to exact vengeance for his wife and his memories. The real trick to memento is that it plays out like a book where you read the last page first. You are shown what would traditionally be the ending of the movie first, where Leonard blows Teddy’s (Joe Pantoliano) brains out, finally getting what he believes is revenge for his wife. Memento then proceeds to backtrack from this showing how Leonard reached this point. The end of the movie is actually the beginning. So much more than a gimmick, it opens the door to mind games and twists throughout the whole experience. Towards the very beginning it can be confusing when time switches back but the movie does a good job of quickly establishing how to tell which stage the characters are at. Going backwards also saves a lot of repetition. The audience is spared a lot of time relearning facts and instead is presented a fact and then is explained how that fact came to be. Going backwards also keeps opinion out of the equation, allowing you to get more in the mind of Leonard who deals only in facts, as he claims "emotions can be misleading". 

If you have any nostalgia for the 16-bit era of RPGs, then Penny Arcade Episode 3 is for you. Made by Zeybod games (the people behind Cthulhu Saves the World), the third entry in the series continues the adventures of Gabe and Tycho from the Startling Developments Detective Agency. If you haven’t guessed it from the title, Episode 3 is the third game in the Penny Arcade series. Unlike its predecessors, it goes for the 16 bit look and feel, with turn based combat, along with the classic RPG class system. All in all, the game succeeds in most aspects of recreating the 16-bit RPG, it’s easy to recommend for 400 Microsoft points (or 5 real dollars if you have a pc).

Playing the first two Penny Arcade games isn’t necessary in order to understand the plot of this one. There are some references to the first two games, but most of the story is generally self-contained. Episode 3 follows Gabe, Tycho, and company as they investigate strange goings on in New Arcadia, connected to the necrowombicon and Dr. Blood. Throughout the game, you’ll run into familiar Penny Arcade characters, as well as a colorful cadre of villains. This game isn’t lacking for interesting or funny characters, and it’s one of Episode 3’s strong points.

Managing expectations is not an easy thing, especially when that thing happens to be the newest Batman film from Christopher Nolan. I don’t need to explain to you how immensely popular this film series has become, or how good the last two in the series were. The marketing machine has already done that for you. Even if you were like me and avoided the trailers and images from the movie, you still were exposed to it. It’s good then, that I can say that The Dark Knight Rises actually lives up to its hype and works as an excellent bookend for the Nolan Batman films.

The Dark Knight Rises works as a double sequel, spending much of the first half addressing the event of The Dark Knight, while spending the second half addressing Batman Begins. The Dark Knight Rises jumps 8 years ahead from The Dark Knight. Gotham has become virtually crime free, thanks to the false martyrdom of Harvey Dent which has brought in new tougher crime laws. Batman hasn’t been seen since the night of Dent’s death, eight years prior, which in turn makes Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) a shut in. Of course, all of this is thrown out of motion by the arrival of Bane (Tom Hardy and his pecs). Joining the fray is the morally questionable Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), fellow philanthropist and Wayne Enterprises executive, Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), Detective Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Batman regulars; Alfred (Michael Caine), Commissioner Gordon  (Gary Oldman), and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman).