Introduction

Let’s be fair here. Your initial reaction is not “who is this guy?”. It’s “who is this guy and why should I listen to him as opposed to every other reviewer on Earth?” and rightly so. It is true, after all. The are as many wanna-be reviewers as there are fish in the sea or clouds in the sky. Perhaps both. As such, let’s cut to the chase.

My name is Christopher Kimball (not that one) and I’ve been playing video games for close to three decades now. In that time, I’ve also watched many movies and plan to do more of both. I also watch Japanese animation (anime) and have since the anime boom and I still remember the localization nightmares that were Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z back then. Don’t even speak to me about Pokemon and jelly doughnuts.

I do not consider myself an expert in any of these and especially do not consider myself a reviewer by any means. I run on a much more nebulous scale of ‘suggest or not’, as in do I suggest you look into what I’m talking about and what audiences might be interested. I also tend to draw parallels between products, so if a game or movie reminds me of something in more than surface elements, I tend to mention these things. I consider myself to be a consumer who wants to inform other consumers about interesting products they may not have looked at before.

As such, I tend towards more interesting products than my mainstream counterparts. I am not in the business of reviewing all of the latest games and do not intend to try, so please do not look to me for timely reviews of new products. I tend to take my time with a product, get the most out of it I can, then try to give an in-depth analysis and review. You may even see a brief synopsis from time to time in plot heavy games, but I will do my best to be as spoiler free as possible.

I also tend to play a lot of RPGs and look into movies related to geeky stuff, like comics or video games, so you may find a lack of variety, with the occasional curveball thrown in for when I get to see or play something I normally would not. I also do not differentiate between my retro and modern reviews, though if a movie or game shares a name, I will provide the year of the product to help. A good example being Tomb Raider (1996) or Tomb Raider (2013) and that’s not even including Tomb Raider (the movie).

Now, despite all the talk of video games, it might be surprising to learn that my first review will actually be of a movie. A movie of a franchise that was more or less center stage for my childhood. A movie that I didn’t appreciate as much as a child, but I appreciate a lot more now that I know the true source material behind it. For those who know me, this is likely a dead giveaway what it is.

And somewhere, my father is saying “That’s not the turtle van!” in a high pitched voice. I know you’re doing it, Dad.