Popzara Podcast

I'll start off by stating I'm a huge fan of the now classic 2012 PlayStation 3 game, Journey. It literally took me on a journey of emotions as I made my ways through different lands while having random online players helping off and on to reach the end of it.

Quality is a big deal when we're talking about gaming peripherals, but comfort's also important in its own way. If you've ever finished a multi-hour gaming session and taken off your headset with a sigh of relief, you've got a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about.

The Mafia series has always occupied a special place in the wide world of crime simulators. Compared to the satirical action of something like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row, Mafia tends to be the more serious, cinematic alternative.

With jaw-dropping entries like The Wild Robot and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, DreamWorks continues to show us why it owns the crown in terms of American animation quality. While other studios keep trying to perfect the same digital animation style we've been seeing since the mid-‘90s, the Universal-owned studio has found a way to bridge the hand-drawn look of yesteryear with the sleekness of modern-day computer graphics.

Going through so many games that have released lately, I would often hear about Medieval Dynasty and how people enjoyed playing through its survival and building challenges to create a thriving town in ancient times. It only made sense for publisher Toplitz Productions to build upon this (pun intended) and release a feudal Japan version called Sengoku Dynasty.

It's Popzara's Movie Time! Podcast, where our in-house movie nerds Ethan Brehm and Nate Evans take you on an unscripted journey yakking and chatting about some of their favorite movie moments and cinematic scenes, from past and present, presented without snark and snobbery for your listening pleasure. For this extra-special episode the guys take a look back at 1973's American Graffiti, George Lucas' cinematic love letter to a bygone era that would redefine the word nostalgia and would become one of the most beloved films of all-time. Its impact on the culture would be profound, influencing everything from cars, music, fashion, and politics, and would introduce iconic talent that would dominate Hollywood for generations, especially writer/director George Lucas, Ron Howard, and Harrison Ford. Among the most successful efforts of the ‘New Hollywood' era, our hosts discuss the meaning of nostalgia itself, the surprising similarities between it and Lucas' followup, Star Wars, perhaps the greatest soundtrack in film history, and why capturing the liminal space between yesterday and today continues to be so elusive. More than anything, they discuss how American Graffiti (and films like it) prove that good storytelling can make us care about the troubles and concerns of another generation, about the universality of being human, and why the things that mattered can still matter long after the lights have gone off and memories are all that remain.

You've got a new console, and now you've got a problem: the second controller dilemma. You want to play with friends or family, but the thought of shelling out nearly a hundred dollars for another official gamepad is a tough pill to swallow, and this gets even more painful when you start thinking about having groups of friends over.

If you're a PC gamer, there's a point you might reach when you realize literally everything on your desk is glowing. Your mouse, your keyboard, your PC case, maybe even your mousepad - they're all pulsing with rainbows of RGB lighting.

It's hard to argue that Japanese developer M2 haven't been great stewards of porting games from a certain era, and their relationship with Konami has been especially fruitful. Going back decades, it's produced some of the best retrospective compilations of the developer's best series, especially with their Contra and Castlevania Anniversary Collections.

Every gamer has a hierarchy of accessories, a sort of unspoken tier list of the stuff you love and the stuff everyone else gets to use. For instance, you've almost inevitably got your main controller, the one with the perfectly worn-in thumbsticks from hours of play with the tension that's just right.

There's a certain subset of gaming hardware that serves as an announcement of intent. You don't just casually end up with a high-end racing wheel or a HOTAS flight stick setup.

It's rare for a long-delayed sequel to feel like it should exist - especially one so tied to a specific era. But Freakier Friday, the follow-up to Disney's 2003 Freaky Friday, slips back into its body-swap chaos like a favorite old hoodie: familiar, comfortable, and surprisingly welcome.

It's interesting to observe the evolution of a genre over time. An initial foundation is one thing, but real gaming gems tend to arise when developers build on what came before.

It feels like we're in the middle of a golden age for game development coming from China. Studios are producing absolute bangers that have been taking the world by storm, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the Souls-like genre.

To hear it described, Earthion probably isn't for you. A side-scrolling shmup (shoot ‘em up) developed for a dead console that was discontinued 30+ years ago, it's hardly cutting-edge.

I was already a happy camper late last year when I got my Apple Watch, as I finally got to see what all the hype was about with wearable tech. Just when I thought I couldn't love my watch any more, here comes MAGEASY with not one, but two must have accessories for it with the MAGEASY Odyssey Apple Watch Case and Nappa Leather Apple Watch Band.

I've always wanted to pick up an Apple Pencil for my iPad Air, but that $130 price tag always kept me from buying one. I was more than excited when MAGEASY reached out to me to review the MAGEASY Instinct iPad Stylus Pencil that works just as well as the Apple Pencil while being much easier on your wallet.

Seems like it was just last year when I was a teenager trying to get my hands on any anime I could watch back in the mid-1990s. I remember finally getting my hands on the famed Grave of the Fireflies, a film focusing on two siblings caught near the end of World War II.

While going through many of the newest anime series out there, I kept hearing about one that would always rise to the top of the pile, Dan Da Dan. After smirking to myself about the title and its premise of dealing with UFOs and ghosts, I decided to give it a shot and it turned out to be one of the wildest, most fun shows I've seen.

Fourth time's the charm - well, almost. Fantastic Four: First Steps is easily the best cinematic take on Marvel's First Family to date, which is both a win.

There's a certain kind of person who derives primal satisfaction from breaking things. I don't mean in a malicious way; I mean that feeling you get from popping bubble wrap.

The year 2025 is looking like a renaissance for ninja games, especially those of a very particular lineage. While Ninja Five-O proved some relics should remain in the past, Ninja Hayate HD-Remaster was available if you craved 1980s anime with limited interaction.

One of my relatives was looking into picking up a dash cam for their SUV, and I remember reading on companies such as Garmin and Vantrue which produced some very good ones that I suggested. I would've never guess Vanture's PR reached out to me about one of their latest products, the Vantrue E1 Pro 4K Mini Dash Cam that also looks to be one of their greatest cams as well.

After covering numerous Turtle Beach and SteelSeries headsets, the Audeze Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset was a breath of fresh air with its balanced sound quality, a snug enough fit, and long battery life that really made it stand out from the rest. Audeze was kind enough to send over the Xbox version that features an embedded Dolby Atmos license to use with the console to make this the only wireless headset you need.

There are game developers, and then there's Hideo Kojima. It's a distinction you have to make, because few figures in the industry inspire such a mix of adoration and exasperation.

You know, sometimes I think about how much easier life would be if I could just transform into a giant, fire-breathing beast to deal with my daily annoyances. Imagine trying to get through rush hour traffic, and then poof, you're a dragon and suddenly the commute is a lot more.

James Gunn's Superman isn't really a Superman movie - at least, not the one fans expected. It's a James Gunn movie first and foremost, with the iconic hero buried under layers of quirky humor, bizarre characters, and a script that plays like leftover Guardians of the Galaxy bits stitched together.

I remember seeing the trailer for Amazon Prime Video's Heads of State some time ago, and I'll admit it grabbed my attention with it's 80s and 90s buddy-action flick vibes with some comedic situations thrown in to bring the laughs. After watching it, it turned out just as I thought it would, a fast-paced and funny movie that's perfect for watching with friends and family with food and snacks in tow.

Let's get straight to it: if you're just here for some basic dinosaur thrills, can tolerate a paper-thin story as long as it looks good, and find mediocre effects acceptable when the camera work is solid, then Jurassic World Rebirth might be exactly what you're after - and I mean that sincerely. Some people just want dinosaurs on a big screen, and that's fair enough.

In 1959, American International came out with Gidget, about a teenage girl who falls in love with surfing even though she doesn't know the first thing about the aquatic sport. If we as an audience weren't already privy to surfing, the titular protagonist's enthusiasm would've been enough to at least pique our interest.

It's always nice when two great things are greater together. I tend to mention this when we talk about genre-blending games like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, which has a little tower-defense, a little action and a whole lot of style to offer.

When I first saw the trailer to KPop Demon Hunters from Netflix, I didn't know what to think or expect before sitting down to give it a shot. Thank goodness I took the plunge as it turned out to be a pleasant surprise filled with infectious KPop songs, and also a nice amount of demon fighting action that families are sure to watch again and again.

After loving the Bebird's EarVision Complete Ear Cleaner I reviewed last year, I was more than excited when I learned about their latest product, the Bebird EarSight Plus Flexible Otoscope Camera Light. Not only did they improve on their eye cleaning tech, they've made it super easy, convenient thanks to a carry case, and dare I say, fun to use.

Everytime SteelSeries sends something my way, I always get excited as they have yet to let me down with any of their releases. While they released their Arctis GameBuds late last year, they stepped things up with their limited edition SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds Glorange Wireless Headphones.

Now we have The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium Set 4, marking the middle of our journey with Bill Watterson's beloved comic strip duo, the first time in many moons that it's been republished with this much zeal. Some may scoff at the smaller form-factor of these new editions (this being the fourth volume of a planned seven), but there's no denying these rectangular reprints are extremely well made, look fantastic, and contain some of the best and most creative comic strips ever made.

Since 2014's Mr. Mercedes Stephen King has treated fans to an unexpected turn in his sizable oeuvre; sausage-factory fiction, the kind pumped out on the regular by literary superstars James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Lee Child and others, applying his gift for characters, dialogue, and Hail Mary horror to the rather predictable world of these soap opera serials.

Remember the Switch? The original console from 2017 that started a hybrid gaming revolution? Things are about to change: the Switch 2 is here and it's bringing a new era of less-questionable ports. One of the first that's going to blow your mind is Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2, the latest and most complete version of Capcom's hit fighter that launched in 2023.

When 28 Days Later hit theaters in 2002, it redefined the zombie genre. Danny Boyle's gritty vision of an empty London, rage-infected citizens, and humanity on the edge created something raw, immediate, and unforgettable.

Retro game collections can serve two very important functions. First, they offer gamers something to play between droughts of new releases.

AMD took the opportunity to outshine Nvidia by doing one simple thing; make a mainstream gaming graphic card without ripping anybody off. That part didn't take much effort, considering how much hate Nvidia received with their Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs at the beginning of this year.

Eight years ago, an eternity in console gaming, Nintendo launched the original Switch, a hybrid mix of home and portable console that embodied everything that was unique and quirky about the company and would become one of the best-selling consoles of all-time. In very un-Nintendo like fashion, however, the house of Mario plays it safe with its successor, the Switch 2, the first direct console sequel and a marked improvement over the original in nearly every way.

Even if boxing isn't your cup of tea, it's difficult to deny how well-designed the sport is for building movies around. Few sports are as intimate or personal as a single person, vulnerable, giving his all against another.

Those who've followed Alison Bechdel's career from cartoonist to cultural icon over the years (the term ‘Bechdel Test' is named for her) knows the creator of the popular ‘Dykes to Watch Out For' comic strip and several graphic novels knows how to tell a joke about even the most uncomfortable topics. With Spent the focus is on satire, blending reality within a progressive ideological wonderland so exaggerated it feels like a checklist of every liberal trope imaginable, and possibly some new ones created just for this book.

I've been a huge Predator fan since seeing the original 1987 classic when I was a kid, and I enjoy watching the famed alien hunters in all of their film entries, both good and bad. It seems like the right person has finally come along to save the franchise and push it to new heights with director Dan Trachtenberg, who brought us 2022's Prey which placed a surprising and refreshing spin on the film series that it so desperately needed, and he's looking to do it again later this year with Predator: Badlands.

Doom: The Dark Ages, the third entry in Bethesda's modern reboot of id Software's iconic grandaddy FPS franchise, does something truly audacious. It takes the two most controversial elements from its predecessor, 2020's Doom Eternal, i.

If I said Etgar Keret's Autocorrect was slim, that wouldn't come as a surprise to fans of the acclaimed Israeli author, nor would the fact that the stories collected inside are on the shorter side. The very shorter side.

Keeping your electronic devices clean can sometimes be a pain, especially when small crevices and vents are involved. Most times a can of compressed air is the go-to for keeping devices clean, but they can possibly be dangerous to use and are expensive.

Ever since I picked up an Apple Watch late last year, I've been in the market for a charging system that allows me to charge it as well as my iPhone at the same time if needed. Thanks to our friends at Scosche, I was able to check out their Scosche MagicMount Base Pro that more than fits the bill as it charges just about anything you have with cool features to spare.

There's a new addition to Michael Connelly's literary family in Nightshade, Detective Sergeant Stilwell, a smart investigator who butted heads with the wrong brass and is now trying to rebuild his life - and career - miles away from the mean streets of Los Angeles. Unlike those of favorites like Harry (and, increasingly, his daughter Maddy) Bosh, Renée Ballard, and Mickey “Lincoln Lawyer” Haller, this adventure is laser-focused on the mystery itself, though Connelly brings the same focused intensity and eye for minute details that's made him a favorite among crime fiction writers.

I'm not sure what people hate more, the Disney live-action remakes or the fact they even exist. What began as an eyebrow-raising experiment over a decade ago has now turned into what might seem to some as a masochistic craving for futility.

Let's face it, life can be rough at times if not most times for us. With fear, stress and anxiety lurking around every corner of our lives, it's always nice to find positive ways to escape those negative feelings whenever possible.