Peruvian Idle

🎮 Games

A couple of late March releases made up for a long dry spell of games. April has a couple of titles I'm eyeing in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is finally coming to PS5.

Assassin's Creed Shadows

I was worried that the early buzz around the new Assassin's Creed was bad, but it seems it was just a bunch of "anti-woke" Gamergate-types making a bunch of noise because the main characters are a black man (historical figure Yasuke) and a woman. But as soon as I fired it up for the first time, I was kind of blown away by the level of detail. The world is so lush with plants and trees that blow around in dynamic weather — it's gorgeous. The gameplay is similar to Ghost of Tsushima, but the ability to traverse rooftops and get the jump on enemies reminds me of an old favorite, Tenchu. At its heart it's still an Assassin's Creed game, with all that entails (mostly stabbing people). I'm still pretty early, so it remains to be seen how the skills and story develop, but so far I'm really digging an AC game for the first time since Assassin's Creed Origins. [PS5, Xbox, PC]

The First Berserker Khazan

I picked up this soulslike on a whim and I’m loving it so far. It combines the combat of Sekiro with the buildcrafting of Nioh. The cel-shaded art style is gorgeous, the combat is fluid and satisfying, and the UI is some of the best I’ve seen in a soulslike, making a usually otherwise inscrutable genre a lot more approachable. This game is HARD, but you never feel like you’re not making progress because you can still level up skills and stats even when you’ve been fighting the same boss for two hours (e.g. me on the second boss). There’s a pretty chonky demo out that’ll give you a good feel for it if you’re on the fence. [PS5, Xbox, PC]

Other games I enjoyed

Aside from the usual suspects, NBA 2k25 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Verdansk coming back to Warzone in April!), I checked out Atomfall, which hooked me early on with it's visuals and story but quickly frustrated me as I tried to stealthily sneak around and was attacked multiple times by seemingly unending hordes of rats and other small creatures. All of the enemies in the game are constantly whistling too, so as to reveal their presence to make sneaking easier, I guess, but after just an hour it got pretty annoying. I may go back to it in the future, but AC and Khazan are keeping me plenty busy for now.

🎬 Movies

It was a record month for movies. I logged nearly a movie a day in March and am on pace to beat my record-setting total of movies watched (212) from last year.

Black Bag

Went into this expecting more of a spy movie and what I got instead was a delightful whodunnit where all the characters are smart and lie for a living. Soderbergh brings his A-game and his signature low-key horny vibes. Fassbender and Blanchett do a great job of keeping their cards close to their vest. This movie was kind of inscrutable until the climactic reveal at which point everything clicked. On a second watch, I picked up a lot of clues I missed the first time around. This movie is a brisk 94 minutes and doesn't waste a lot of time. [VOD]

Mickey 17

I had a huge grin on my face through most of this movie. Everyone is just hamming it up and having a good time. Landed in a way that Snowpiercer and Okja didn't for me. It feels like Director Bong's American work lacks any and all subtlety. Mickey 17 feels like a fun remix of themes he's explored throughout his career. The more I sat with this movie, the less I loved it, but it's still a fun time. Robert Pattinson continues to make interesting choices, both in his projects and characters. [In Theaters]

1917

The oner is like a high-wire act. Difficult to pull off but leaves its audience breathless when it’s pulled off successfully. It’s been popular in recent series like Adolescence and The Studio, and while 1917 uses some trickery to achieve the illusion of one, long continuous shot, its sheer ambition tops any oners in recent memory. The logistics that must have gone into this to make it work are mind-boggling. The film is gorgeously shot by Roger Deakins and George MacKay gives an impressive and physically challenging performance. [Netflix]

Other movies I enjoyed

I don't think I'd seen Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World since it came out and at that time I thought it was pretty forgettable. But wow, this thing really holds up and is a helluva movie. There's scenes where I'm just like, "how did they film this without anyone dying?" That's when you know you're watching greatness. The 4k Criterion of Thief is exceptional. It's the prototypical Michael Mann movie and such an authentically Chicago-ass movie right down to the Portillo's wrappers on the dash and someone using a Jewel bag as luggage. Mickey 17 made me want to revisit Parasite, which is transcendent. It's easy to see why it remains one of, if not THE best Best Picture Oscar winners of the last decade or more. I rewatched Drive My Car, a fascinating meditation on grief and, like recent movies Ghostlight and Sing Sing, features a main character working through trauma through a play whose themes parallel their lives. This might be my favorite of those three. I also revisited Decision to Leave, a delightfully quirky and horny noir. Hitchcock meets In the Mood for Love, with a ton of great shots. Netflix added Sicario recently, which means I watched Sicario for the sixth time. Just a perfect storm of directing, acting, writing, cinematography, and scoring. The Big Picture podcast recently started a series on the best 25 films of the century and Michael Clayton was #25. Hard to argue with this one. A top three performance by Clooney, an all-star supporting cast and solid direction by Tony Gilroy.

📺 TV

A great month of TV saw a few series stick the landing with their series finales and a couple of new shows that prominently feature long, continuous takes.

Adolescence

As a parent, this series wrecked me. It feels extremely relevant and timely in it's depiction of online bullying and toxic masculinity. I'm not sure each episode needed to be shot in one take but it's done masterfully here. If there are any sneaky edits they're extremely hard to spot, which makes the performances, particularly Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper's, that much more mesmerizing. At Second City they teach you "today is the day," that every good story is the day something happens that changes its characters. Every episode of this series takes that to heart, even if it's not immediately obvious why we're seeing that day. Truly one of the must watch series of the year. [Netflix]

The Studio

Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg's cringe comedy The Studio has some strong Curb Your Enthusiasm vibes, lovingly shot as a series of oners. This show had me rolling. Rogan's Matt Remick becomes the head of a Hollywood movie studio and wants to make artistic films, but his first task from his boss (played wonderfully by Bryan Cranston) is to make a Kool-Aid movie. The kind of IP-driven bullshit that seems to be all the rage in Hollywood these days. Chock full of guest stars playing themselves (Marty Scorsese!). It's only two episodes in, but it's already shaping up to be one of my favorite comedy series of all time. [Apple TV+]

Ripley

I finally got around to finishing this sublime adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Robert Elswit’s cinematography is stunning. Picturesque Italy is captured in gorgeous black-and-white and nearly every shot could be a painting. I loved Andrew Scott as Ripley, a much more calculating take than Matt Damon’s version. And Mauricio Lombardi is delightful as Inspector Ravini, who always seems to be both a step ahead and a step behind Ripley at every moment. The pacing may seem slow as the series likes to luxuriate in every detail, but I loved every minute of it. [Netflix]

Other shows I enjoyed

Severance wrapped up it's second season with a banger. I was worried they wouldn't stick the landing but there was so much to love (Gwendoline Christie!) and fortunately season 3 has already been greenlit. Reacher also wrapped up its third season, including a knockdown drag out fight between Alan Ritchson's beefy 6'3" Reacher and 7'2" Olivier Richters, who completely dwarfs Reacher. I will probably forget everything that happened this season in a month, but that's dadcore TV for you. The Pitt continues to shine as one of the best shows on television right now. The season is a pressure cooker and has built up to a mass-shooting event that has overwhelmed the ER and its staff. I'm glad this show only airs one episode per week because I don't think my heart could take more than that.

📱 Videos

• Lord Gaga stopped by the Weekend Update desk to show support for his wife, Lady Gaga, who was the host and musical guest on SNL. Just an all-time great burn on Colin Jost at the end.
• I enjoyed watching these high school students try and hook up an original NES to an 80s-era black-and-white TV. The teacher gave them a little too many hints but this was like ASMR for me. Remember turning the TV on by turning the volume knob?
• Mark Rober tested the self driving features of Teslas, which use an array of cameras, against other electric cars that use LiDAR technology. The results were unsurprisingly not favorable to Tesla, though the video caused a bit of a stir.
• A disturbing deleted scene from Home Alone explains a lot.
• I have watched very few Bulls games this season since their new network is only currently available to me over an antenna (what is this, 1997?) but this ending was an all-timer.
• This granny video is something else.

Thanks for reading!

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Peruvian Idle. I send this out on the first of every month. You can subscribe at peruvianidle.mikeaparicio.com or via RSS.

What are you looking forward to in April? Let me know!