The Cainage Critique: Reviews

Below you will find a alphabetical list of every review I've written for movies and games. There are also a few guides below to how my reviews are structured. They are fairly analytic and with this comes more length and in depth material. My reviews are structured as follows, beginning with an introduction and ending with a conclusion.

Keep in mind that many of the reviews in the list below were written many years ago and may feel quite amateur when compared to the newer aspects of my portfolio.

Movies/TV: Beginning in 2011 my writing of film reviews (And eventually television series) has mostly revolved around this structure. My first film review was of the 1963 epic (failure) Cleopatra. Films are rated on a five star basis much like other critics.

1. Plot: How is the film's narrative told? Can we follow it along well? If the film is a sequel does it manage to set itself apart from its predecessor?

2. Acting and Characterization: Do the actors and actresses turn in solid performances? How do the characters develop in the film? Are they memorable enough so that we as an audience care about their fates?

3. Various Technicalities and Effects: If the film has been laced with technology how does it fare? Do the video and sound effects work well?

Games: I have been writing game reviews for many years but since 2010 they have been structured as follows. This format for my game reviews was inspired by an older style used by GameTrailers.com and are based within digits (8.0, 8.5, 9.0).

1. Story: Is the story a memorable and emotional one that rivals that of the best blockbusters or is it just a simple affair?

2. Design: Here I talk about how the game works and the overall value of the package in terms of play time. Multiplayer will also be mentioned in this section.

3. Gameplay: Does the game play well? Are the controls responsive? This is arguably the most important section of the game review.

4. Presentation: In this section I look at graphics, audio and overall performance to see if they compliment the game well.

Music: These are relatively new to my blog and mostly look over the themes and composition of the album as well as homing in on specific tracks. I first got into album reviews in 2015 with "Light up the Dark" from Gabrielle Aplin. I grade albums as follows...

Grade A: The best of the best; albums which have a very strong variety of tracks while also taking some ambitious steps into new territory. Fire Within from Birdy would be one such album for me.

Grade B: A great album with a variety of tracks while also maintaining the artist's strengths. They're only missing that spark of ambition to expand into other areas and diversify their reach.

Grade C: A decent album which gives what you'd expect from the artist but either ends up feeling quite samey whether it's a lack of variety in the album or too many similarities to the previous release.

Grade D: A lackluster offering which doesn't do enough to showcase the artist's talents, be it basic themes, compositions or an overall lack of effort.

Grade F: The weakest albums of the bunch; records that pander too much to the latest irksome trends in the music industry and come off as incredibly uninspired.

Click on a title to go to the review.