Death of the Critic

August 2016

A Case Against Open World Games

Written by: Tom Blaich

It’s not often that I argue against adding features. It’s counter intuitive. It goes against everything I normally stand for, and everything everyone else normally stands for. We want more. We want our dollars and cents to be giving us a tangible experience, as massive as possible. We want the cost benefit analysis to be as positive for us as possible. To be able to milk every single last hour and minute out of a game. Read More…
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SremmLife 2 - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

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As a follow-up to their 2015 album
SremmLife, rap duo Rae Sremmurd make a conscious effort to shirk people’s expectations with SremmLife 2, delivering an album that manages to exist in two spaces. Both as a sequel that builds off of what came before it to create more earworm club rap songs and as a new album that builds distinctive sounds that manage to be totally different than their previous style. It’s almost experimental in that way, while being loud, fun, more than a little stupid, wrapped up in a playful package. It’s not a complex album by any means, but it remains fresh throughout the time that you are listening to it.

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Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

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I’m glad that this game went free. I would otherwise never have played it. I don’t exactly like “Musou” games. I never really have. Every few years I will pick up the latest one for an afternoon to see if I have been missing something, and every time I quickly find myself sated. I don’t know why. Maybe I came to them too late in my life, I missed something by not playing them as a child. Maybe they simply aren’t the games for me. That being said,
Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate is easily the most fun I’ve had while playing one of these games, even if it couldn’t grab hold of me for very long.

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Commando: The Best Action Movie of All Time

Written by: Tom Blaich

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Gather around and let me tell you a tale of the greatest action movie ever made. Our determined and glistening hero, rippling with absurd muscles and bristling with enough armaments to destroy a small country, finds himself waging a war against a South American despot, all in order to save his lovely and innocent daughter. It’s a tale that will live on through the ages. I’m of course talking about
Commando, the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger film, also starring Alyssa Milano, Rae Dawn Chong, and Vernon Wells.

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Encore - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich


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Listening to DJ Snake’s smash hit collaboration with Lil John “Turn Down for What”, gives you a certain expectation for his music and about
Encore, his debut album that just came out. Something big, flashy, bombastic, and more than a little stupid. Full of pulse-racing EDM tracks that will worm their way into your brain and leave you jumping for more. What we got was ok at best, with a few tracks that will sit with me for all of the wrong reasons.

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D.T.S.N.T - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

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After hearing the beat on Drake’s “Weston Road Flows” and finding out that the young artist who had created it was putting out their debut E.P, I knew that I had to give it a listen. Hearing it was familiar. The sound reminded me of the Drake track, but also of so many more that came before it. Smoky vocals and a muted beat carry through the album, with a few hints of something unique that manage to surface around the edges. Heavily inspired by recent trends in electronic music, the R&B infused beats ultimately fail to stand out as anything more than a novelty.

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The Surprisingly Progressive Gender Politics of Some Like it Hot

Written by: Tom Blaich

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It is not always an uplifting experience to look back to the past and how we treated people differently. Unfortunately there is a history of treating marginalized groups poorly in the United States. Basically if you weren’t a straight white male, you got the short end of the stick in many cases. And this is very evident in looking at films. Film is, in essence, a snapshot of the time in which it was created. Looking back you can see the proliferation of ideas throughout American culture simply by looking at actors on screen or the actions they take and the statements that they make.

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Suicide Squad - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich


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It is no secret that
Suicide Squad's production was plagued with problems from the beginning. From stories of reshoots, reedits, and test audiences changing the tone of the film, we don't know what the movie was originally going to look like. What we do know is that the movie that we did get is ultimately disappointing. Bogged down by an oversized cast, poor writing, plot holes, and unkept promises, what started out as an exciting trailer ended poorly and leaves a rotten taste in your mouth.

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Religious Rap

Written by: Tom Blaich

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Coloring Book, the newest “mixtape” from artist Chance the Rapper, highlights many interesting things about the rap music industry. It’s a mixtape with timed exclusivity on Apple Music, a free album that might put him in the running for album of the year, and exists as a heavily gospel influenced album in a realm where self-described “Christian music” is looked down upon. But by circumventing that label and refusing to categorize his album in that way, Chance has delivered a musical bombshell that has fans asking what they are really listening to.

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Major Key - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

Cover Art of DJ Khaled Major Key


Ever since DJ Khaled's ridiculous snap trend earlier this year, the term "Major Key" has become almost an internet meme. He's taken social media by storm and he is not afraid to let you know. He pulled all of his amazing array of strings to assemble an impressive rogues gallery of some of the biggest names in the business to drop rhymes over his production.

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Bobby Tarantino - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

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Seemingly out of nowhere, Logic dropped a mixtape on us. While he is still working on his next studio album, which he is now referring to as a concept album, this stealth mixtape should hopefully keep fans sated for a while. Clocking in at only 11 tracks including its intro and an interlude. It is short, sweet, and to the point. All things that I love in an album.

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Coolaid - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

Cover art for Snoop Dogg's Coolaid


A new Snoop Dogg album isn't exactly an uncommon occurrence. As his 14th studio album over the years of the Dogg's rapping career, Coolaid sits at the front of a very long line of music, spanning the history of rap music. And while it is distinctively Snoop, with breezy, marijuana-infused rhymes, it still manages to be shockingly different, joining the Doggfather's style with more contemporary, trap-influenced beats.

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Star Trek: Beyond - Review

Written by: Tom Blaich

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The first two films in the new JJ Abrams Star Trek franchise weren't exactly fan favorites. They focused their attentions on a broader audience, opting for glitz and glamour over what made the old shows and movies so great to fans. And I will fully admit that I am not exactly a long time Trek fan. I grew up watching the movies and a few episodes of the shows with my dad, but I never really found myself becoming to attached to the franchise. It was with him that I found myself sitting in an IMAX theater a few days ago to see this movie. We wanted to go big, to enjoy a fun movie, and we expected to receive more of the same old JJ Abrams formula. A decent plot, lots of spectacle, and a relatively pleasing popcorn muncher of a film.

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